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The judge ruled that “the disclosures were manifestly excessive and therefore illegal” and that there would be “no chance of a different judgment being rendered after a trial”.
“The plaintiff had a reasonable expectation that the contents of the letter would be kept private. The articles in the mail interfered with that reasonable expectation,” he wrote in the judgment.
The Mail on Sunday and Associated Newspapers had previously said they were upholding the decision to publish excerpts from the letter and would vigorously defend the case.
Meghan praised the decision in a scathing critical statement from the tabloid. “After two long years of legal action, I am grateful to the courts for holding Associated Newspapers and The Mail on Sunday to report on their illegal and dehumanizing practices,” she said.
“These tactics (and those of their sister publications MailOnline and the Daily Mail) are not new; in fact, they have continued for far too long without consequence.
“For these outlets, it’s a game. For me and for so many others, it’s real life, real relationships and very real sadness. The damage they have done and continue to do is deep, ”Meghan said.
Meghan thanked her legal team, family and supporters, adding: “We all lose when disinformation sells more than truth, when moral exploitation sells more than decency, and when companies build their business model to profit from people’s pain. But for today, with that overall victory over privacy and copyright, we’ve all won. “
Another hearing to decide issues related to the case and outline next steps will take place on March 2, but the summary judgment means the privacy aspects of the case have been decided and will not be tried.
The case centers on the newspaper’s publication of a handwritten letter from Meghan to her father, sent shortly after her marriage to Prince Harry in May 2018.
According to the post, Meghan had complained to her father that she had ignored many of her attempts to contact him, telling him his actions had “broken my heart into a million pieces”.
The original Mail on Sunday article also included claims from Thomas Markle that he had contacted “several times” in an attempt to patch things up.
Meghan is seeking damages for misuse of private information, copyright infringement and violation of the Data Protection Act 2018.
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