26 October 2012 Last updated at 15:36 ET
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Shares in Trinity Mirror slid 16% on Friday as the media group’s newspapers face allegations of phone hacking.
Ex-England football manager Sven-Goran Eriksson is among four people taking legal action against the group’s print business, Mirror Group Newspapers.
The claims against the publisher of the Daily and Sunday Mirror and the People were filed at the High Court on Monday.
Mr Eriksson’s claim relates to a time when Piers Morgan edited the Daily Mirror. Mr Morgan denies phone hacking.
Trinity Mirror, which owns Mirror Group, has declined to comment.
Trinity Mirror’s shares have fallen a total of 30% in the last week and a half.
It reverses half of the stock market gains enjoyed by the media group since announcing the departure of its controversial chief executive Sly Bailey and a surprise bounce in profits over the summer.
Ms Bailey has since been replaced by the former HMV boss Simon Fox.
Friday’s share price drop came after High Court judge Mr Justice Vos, who has presided over similar cases brought against News International, said that he would handle all four of the cases against Trinity Mirror, according to reports in the Guardian and Independent newspapers.
The three other claimants are Coronation Street actress Shobna Gulati, who plays Sunita Alahan; Abbie Gibson, a former nanny for the Beckham family; and Garry Flitcroft, the former captain of Blackburn Rovers football team.
Piers Morgan at the Leveson Inquiry: December 2011
Until now, the UK phone-hacking scandal has centred on Rupert Murdoch’s News International and the now defunct Sunday tabloid the News of the World.
This is the first legal action in the scandal against another newspaper group.
Mr Morgan, who is now a chat show host for US broadcaster CNN, was questioned about phone hacking during his appearance at the Leveson Inquiry – the independent probe set up by the government into the culture and ethics of the UK newspaper industry.
During his appearance, he repeated his denials of any knowledge or involvement in the illegal practice.
BBC News – Business
Hacking claims hit Mirror shares
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Hacking claims hit Mirror shares
