Peter Carter-Ruck, 89; Was a Leading British Litigator for 25 Years

Peter Carter-Ruck, 89, an aggressive litigator who was one of Britain’s best-known libel lawyers, died Friday at his home near London, according to his daughter Julie. She did not give a cause of death.

Carter-Ruck reigned as a leading British litigator for more than 25 years.

He started his career defending newspapers, but soon moved to suing them, representing such high-profile clients as Princess Elizabeth of Toro, a one-time Ugandan diplomat who filed a number of lawsuits over allegations about her sex life.

Carter-Ruck also represented Winston Churchill’s son, Randolph, in a suit against the satirical magazine Private Eye, which claimed that the younger Churchill had employed ghostwriters to help him write a biography of his father. The magazine eventually agreed to pay damages and run an apology in the London Evening Standard.