MEGAN MARKLE LOSES FIRST ROUND IN LEGAL BATTLE AGAINST MEDIA SITE MAILONLINE
Reportedly the duchess has lost the first round of her legal battle against a renowned media conglomerate, Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), publisher of the newspaper and MailOnline. Due to her losing the battle, she has agreed to pay £67,000 in legal costs.
The ongoing battle started after Meghan had sued ANL over an article which reproduced parts of a handwritten letter sent by her to her estranged father, Thomas Markle, in August 2018, which she claims to be personal.
The headline printed in the paper with the letter read as; "Revealed: The letter showing the true tragedy of Meghan's rift with a father she says has 'broken her heart into a million pieces'."
A paragraph in the letter stated, "Your actions have broken my heart into a million pieces, not simply because you have manufactured such unnecessary and unwarranted pain, but by making the choice to not tell the truth as you are puppeteered in this. Something I will never understand."
Meghan's grounds of taking action agains ANL was of the view that it was private correspondence, and she did not expect the contents to be made public. During a preliminary hearing on May 1, Mr Justice Warby struck out certain parts of Meghan's claim against the publisher, and stated that; "Some of the allegations are struck out as irrelevant to the purpose for which they are pleaded. Some are struck out on the further or alternative ground that they are inadequately detailed. I have also acted so as to confine the case to what is reasonably necessary and proportionate for the purpose of doing justice between these parties. I do not consider that the allegations struck out on that basis go to the 'heart' of the case, which at its core concerns the publication of five articles disclosing the words of, and information drawn from, the letter written by the claimant to her father in August 2018. Some aspects of the case that I have struck out at this stage may be revived if they are put in proper form."
During the process the duchess is seeking damages from Associated Newspapers for alleged misuse of private information, copyright infringement and breach of the Data Protection Act.