Meghan Markle to receive less than $2 in damages from British tabloid for invasion of privacy
A British tabloid will pay damages to Meghan Markle for invasion of privacy, though the sum won't exactly be breaking the bank.
The Mail on Sunday is set to pay the Duchess of Sussex a mere £1 in damages for invading her privacy by publishing portions of a letter she wrote to her father, The Guardian reports. The amount is equivalent to about $1.35.
The Duchess of Sussex sued the tabloid for publishing the private letter, and a court found last month that doing so "interfered with the duchess's reasonable expectation of privacy." The court tossed the publisher's appeal of a judge's previous ruling that she had a "reasonable expectation" of privacy. The tabloid, meanwhile, argued that Meghan wrote the letter "with readership by the public in mind," knowing it would be leaked.
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The £1 in damages specifically relate to the invasion of privacy claim, and according to The Guardian, a separate, unspecified amount will be paid in relation to the copyright infringement portion of the case. Plus, Associated Newspapers will be covering a substantial amount of Meghan's legal costs, The Daily Beast notes. Still, media lawyer Mark Stephens told The Guardian that "normally for that kind of invasion of privacy you would expect £75,000 to £125,000."
This comes after the Mail on Sunday quietly published an apology to Meghan over the holidays, noting to readers a "court found that Associated Newspapers infringed her copyright by publishing extracts of her handwritten letter to her father in the Mail on Sunday and in Mail Online," and "financial remedies have been agreed." Meghan celebrated her court win as a victory "for anyone who has ever felt scared to stand up for what's right," and she called for reshaping "a tabloid industry that conditions people to be cruel, and profits from the lies and pain that they create."
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Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.
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