Tom Linden QC, for Coulson, argued that News International was also liable for the former editor's legal fees because the company has reputedly agreed to indemnify Rebekah Brooks, its former chief executive, and several Sun journalists as part of criminal proceedings.
Gawker founder Nick Denton and former editor Albert J. Daulerio were found personally liable, as well.
His role was like that of a technical editor, they said, arguing that he cannot be held criminally liable for what others wrote.
"The premise of the court is universal jurisdiction -- that everyone is liable for crimes against humanity," said Sarah Sewall, of the Carr Center for Human Rights at Harvard and editor of a book on the court.
To the Editor: Ronen Avraham proposes to make the drafter of a medical-practice guideline potentially liable when a doctor follows it and a patient is injured.
Former News of the World editor Andy Coulson has challenged a high court ruling that News International is not liable to pay his legal fees over the phone-hacking scandal.
The problem, according to the writer, Liu Shinan, a high-ranking editor at the paper, is that many in China worry that they will be found liable for the injuries that they are seeking to alleviate.
"Our visitors ought not to wear their Sunday best when they come calling; they're liable to go home a little soiled," said Ed Rogers, a member of Steamtown's board and managing editor of The Scranton Times and The Tribune newspapers.
This was that they had a joint interest in taking steps to protect Mr Coulson from allegations of wrongdoing whilst he was the editor and to advance his defence against such allegations - not least because NGN would be vicariously liable and might also bear corporate criminal liability for any allegations made against its senior directors.
Are they criminally liable?
