Meghan Markle Wins Lawsuit Against British Tabloids Over Private Letter To Father Thomas Markle
Meghan Markle won a major victory in her ongoing lawsuit against two British tabloids and their parent company.
The Duchess of Sussex previously sued Associated Newspapers, which publishes the Mail on Sunday and the Daily Mail, for running excerpts of a private letter she wrote to her estranged father, Thomas Markle, in the months following her 2018 wedding to Prince Harry.
On Thursday, a ruling published by the High Court in London determined that the letter’s publication did breach Meghan’s privacy. According to NBC News, judge Mark Warby wrote that the 39-year-old “had a reasonable expectation that the contents of the Letter would remain private,” adding that the tabloid articles “interfered with that reasonable expectation.”
“Taken as a whole the disclosures were manifestly excessive and hence unlawful,” the written ruling continued. “There is no prospect that a different judgment would be reached after a trial.”
A spokesperson for Associated Newspapers said in a statement to Access Hollywood that the company is “very surprised by today’s summary judgment and disappointed at being denied the chance to have all the evidence heard and tested in open court at a full trial.”
Adding, “We are carefully considering the judgment’s contents and will decide in due course whether to lodge an appeal.”
In a statement to Access, Meghan expressed her gratitude for the judge’s decision and shared her perspective on the larger message she believes it sends.
“After two long years of pursuing litigation, I am grateful to the courts for holding Associated Newspapers and The Mail on Sunday to account for their illegal and dehumanizing practices. These tactics (and those of their sister publications MailOnline and the Daily Mail) are not new; in fact, they’ve been going on for far too long without consequence. For these outlets, it’s a game. For me and so many others, it’s real life, real relationships, and very real sadness. The damage they have done and continue to do runs deep,” the statement read.
“The world needs reliable, fact-checked, high-quality news. What The Mail on Sunday and its partner publications do is the opposite. We all lose when misinformation sells more than truth, when moral exploitation sells more than decency, and when companies create their business model to profit from people’s pain. But for today, with this comprehensive win on both privacy and copyright, we have all won. We now know, and hope it creates legal precedent, that you cannot take somebody’s privacy and exploit it in a privacy case, as the defendant has blatantly done over the past two years,” she added.
The former “Suits” star went on to acknowledge those who have been by her side throughout the ordeal, including Harry.
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View Gallery“I share this victory with each of you—because we all deserve justice and truth, and we all deserve better,” she continued. “I particularly want to thank my husband, mom, and legal team, and especially Jenny Afia for her unrelenting support throughout this process.
The duchess’ lawyers returned to court last month seeking a summary judgment in the privacy case. People reported that Meghan’s attorney, Justin Rushbrooke, spoke to judge Warby at a virtual hearing on Jan. 19 and argued that a summary judgment should be allowed in lieu of a full trial because there was “no real prospect” of Associated Newspapers winning the lawsuit.
Though Thursday’s ruling marks the closing of a long chapter for Meghan, her legal saga isn’t over completely. Per NBC News, Warby additionally noted that the letter’s copyright issues would need to be addressed at trial.
Meghan has previously said that any monetary damages she may receive in the case will be donated to an anti-bullying charity.