Judge considers sending Jolie stuntwoman’s phone-hacking lawsuit to UK

But after hearing legal arguments, US District Judge Michael Fitzgerald said he would consider it further.

Judge Fitzgerald’s statement against former Gladiators starEunice Huthart undercuts efforts by New York lawyer Norman Siegel to take on Rupert Murdoch’s companies in a US court, where discovery laws are more liberal than the UK’s.

Liverpudlian Ms Huthart, 47, who was Blaze on the ITV game show, claims her phone was hacked in 2004 and 2005 while she was in Hollywood filming Mr & Mrs Smith. Jolie and Brad Pitt became a romantic item during that movie, which was reported by The Sun.

Ms Huthart claims the paper found out about it by hacking her mobile phone. She says she knew nothing of the intrusion until British police came to see her in 2011, when the hacking scandal broke.

Mr Siegel told the judge that sending the case to the UK would be tantamount to a dismissal because most cases associated with the hacking scandal had already been resolved and deadlines had passed for filing lawsuits there.

The judge said Ms Huthart was the victim of “what seems undisputed as a shocking violation of her privacy”, but suggested the underlying motive of the lawsuit was to obtain monetary damages.

However, in an exchange with the judge, Mr Siegel, a veteran civil rights lawyer, said: “I would not be here if all this was about was a cheque.”

Defence lawyer Joseph Terry said Ms Huthart was a British citizen and her case belonged in Britain.

“When they choose a forum for more liberal discovery rules, that is forum shopping,” he said.

“You have a very interesting case,” the judge said. “If this was a personal decision, I’d like to keep you here. And Ms Jolie being a witness would be very interesting. But given that, I believe it belongs in England.”

Judge Fitzgerald did not set a date for his final ruling.