Meghan Markle wins invasion of privacy lawsuit; Associated Newspapers to pay her £1 (GHC8.39)

According to the BBC, the paltry sum was set out in court documents which formally confirm that the firm has accepted defeat.

Meghan sued the organization after the Mail on Sunday published a handwritten letter she sent to her father Thomas Markle in 2018.

The Associated Newspapers owns The Mail on Sunday, the Daily Mail, MailOnline, Metro, Metro.co.uk, i newspaper and inews.co.uk.

Aside from the insignificant £1 sum, the media company will also pay an unspecified sum for a separate case of infringing Meghan’s copyright, the BBC reports.

Although Associated Newspapers had attempted to appeal the ruling of the High Court in February 2021 which favoured Meghan to the Supreme Court, it has finally decided to accept defeat.

“It is our strong view that judgement should be given only on the basis of evidence tested at trial, and not on a summary basis in a heavily contested case,” the company’s spokesman had said after the High Court ruling.

Efforts by the company to appeal against the High Court’s decision were refused but it found a way to go to the Court of Appeal to get the original ruling overturned but in December, the Court of Appeal rejected the attempt by the media firm to have a trial.

“The judge had correctly decided that whilst it might have been proportionate to publish a very small part of the letter… it was not necessary to publish half the contents of the letter,” the judges told the media firm.

Now, having accepted defeat, Associated Newspapers, according to reports, “will also pay a confidential sum for copyright infringement, while the Mail on Sunday also faces having to cover a substantial part of Meghan’s legal costs, which could be more than £1m”.

The duchess, after her legal victory against the media organisation, has urged people to be “brave enough to reshape a tabloid industry that… profits from the lies and pain that they create”.

Meghan Markle wins invasion of privacy lawsuit; Associated Newspapers to pay her £1 (GHC8.39)

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