Meghan Markle has scored a victory in her legal battle against a U.K. tabloid.
The Duchess of Sussex sued Associated Newspapers, publisher of the Mail on Sunday and MailOnline, over a series of articles that included parts of a private letter she wrote to her father, and she won the privacy claim on Thursday, NBC News reports. Judge Mark Warby ruled that the articles interfered with Meghan's "reasonable expectation that the contents of the letter would remain private" in a summary judgement before the case could go to a full trial, according to CNN.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"Taken as a whole the disclosures were manifestly excessive and hence unlawful," the judge wrote Thursday, per NBC. "There is no prospect that a different judgment would be reached after a trial."
In addition to alleging her privacy was violated, Meghan also accused Associated Newspapers of infringement of copyright and breaching the Data Protection Act 2018, but according to NBC, the judge said the copyright issues would have to be settled at a trial. The ruling comes after Prince Harry won "significant" damages in another case against Associated Newspapers over an article claiming he turned his back on the military.
Meghan said Thursday she's "grateful to the courts for holding Associated Newspapers and The Mail on Sunday to account for their illegal and dehumanizing practices," while an Associated Newspapers spokesperson told NBC it's "very surprised" by the ruling and "disappointed at being denied the chance to have all the evidence heard and tested in open court at a full trial."
-
What to know before turning to AI for financial advicethe explainer It can help you crunch the numbers — but it might also pocket your data
-
Book reviews: 'The Headache: The Science of a Most Confounding Affliction—and a Search for Relief' and 'Tonight in Jungleland: The Making of Born to Run'Feature The search for a headache cure and revisiting Springsteen's 'Born to Run' album on its 50th anniversary
-
Keith McNally' 6 favorite books that have ambitious charactersFeature The London-born restaurateur recommends works by Leo Tolstoy, John le Carré, and more
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclubSpeed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's illsSpeed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, StalloneSpeed Read Actor Sylvester Stallone and the glam-rock band Kiss were among those named as this year's inductees
-
White House seeks to bend Smithsonian to Trump's viewSpeed Read The Smithsonian Institution's 21 museums are under review to ensure their content aligns with the president's interpretation of American history
-
Charlamagne Tha God irks Trump with Epstein talkSpeed Read The radio host said the Jeffrey Epstein scandal could help 'traditional conservatives' take back the Republican Party
-
CBS cancels Colbert's 'Late Show'Speed Read 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' is ending next year
-
Shakespeare not an absent spouse, study proposesspeed read A letter fragment suggests that the Shakespeares lived together all along, says scholar Matthew Steggle
-
New Mexico to investigate death of Gene Hackman, wifespeed read The Oscar-winning actor and his wife Betsy Arakawa were found dead in their home with no signs of foul play
