Published 12:49 IST, May 2nd 2020
Tabloid wins first round of battle against Meghan Markle's privacy claims
London’s high court on May 1 threw out part of a claim brought by British Royalty, Meghan Markle against a tabloid newspaper for breaching her privacy.
London’s high court on May 1 threw out part of a claim brought by British Royalty, Meghan against a tabloid newspaper for breaching her privacy. Meghan is suing publisher Associated Newspapers over articles published in its Mail in February last year which included parts of a letter she had sent to her father. At a hearing last week, the publication’s lawyer argued that the allegations that it had acted dishonestly and had escalated an inner family feud should be removed along with references to another previously published articles which the duchess alleged to be false.
'Publication breached her copyright'
Judge Mark Warby, in his ruling reportedly asserted that all the three categories of the allegation should be "struck out of the Particulars of Claim". Previously, Meghan's lawyers had accused that the publication of printing Meghan’s letter to her father and breaching her copyright. According to reports, the lawyers also accused Mail and other tabloids of harassing, humiliating and manipulating Thomas Markle and contributing towards a fallout between him his daughter saying that both of them hadn’t spoken since Mar 2018.
Speaking to international media reporters, a spokesman for Schillings, Meghan’s law firm said that that the new ruling just made it clear that the “core elements” of the case did not change and would “continue to move forward". He added that the Duchess’ rights were violated and the legal boundaries around privacy were crossed. He further said that as a part of the process, the extremes to which the tabloid's “distortive, manipulative and dishonest tactics “ targeted Meghan had been put on “full display”
Last month, Prince Harry and wife Meghan Markle escalated their feud with British media as they blacklisted at least four UK tabloids. According to reports, citing “distortion” of truth and being the “currency for an economy of clickbait", in a blunt letter, the couple has declared that they will not engage with such media outlets that are “invasive beyond reason”.
Image credits: AP
Updated 12:49 IST, May 2nd 2020