Meghan Markle Is Trying To Get Her Lawsuit Against The Mail On Sunday Settled Without Going To Trial

January 19, 2021 / Posted by:

When we last left the current status of Meghan Markle’s lawsuit against Associated Newspapers, the publishers of The Mail on Sunday and The Daily Mail, her legal team asked a judge to postpone the trial for nine months. A reason was not specifically given, due to a confidentiality agreement. The trial was supposed to happen late last year or early this year, but a judge agreed to her request, and the estimated time of trial arrival was Fall 2021. Getting your trial pushed to a better date is good. But what would be great – at least according to Meghan’s legal team – would be if the trial didn’t happen at all.

Meghan is fighting against The Mail on Sunday for publishing a private letter she sent to her father Thomas Markle after she married Prince Harry in 2018. According to Meghan, Associated Newspapers pulled some illegal privacy invasion shenanigans by publishing that letter. They have argued that they didn’t do anything illegal. So really, you can see why a trial needs to happen, because both sides think they’re right. But HuffPo is reporting that Meghan’s team is currently trying to get this whole mess settled without going to trial, because they believe The Mail on Sunday has no hope of winning. Frogmore Cottage has a better chance of finding long-term tenants than The Mail on Sunday has of walking away victorious.

Meghan’s lawyer Justin Rushbrooke argued during a hearing earlier today that she’s seeking a “summary judgement,” and have The Mail on Sunday’s defense dismissed.

The Duchess of Sussex’s lawyer argued that the publisher had “no real prospect” of winning the case.

“At its heart it’s a very straightforward case about the unlawful publication of a private letter.” Rushbrooke said Meghan had every expectation that “a heartfelt plea from an anguished daughter to her father” would remain private.

Her lawyer also argued that Meghan tried really hard to keep the letter private, like by FedEx-ing it through her accountant. And also, that Meghan specifically stated in the letter that she hoped her dad would stop running to the press to air out their dysfunctional relationship. Her legal team thinks it’s a pretty cut and dry reason for why a judge might rule to call the whole thing off. The Mail on Sunday’s legal team doesn’t. They have previously argued that Meghan’s privacy happens on her terms, and that this is an all-or-nothing situation. They claim that Meghan herself has encouraged her private life to be made public, by granting permission to friends to speak on her behalf to tabloids, and by admitting she sort of collaborated the authors of Finding Freedom.

The Mail on Sunday will get a full defense tomorrow, but for now they’re also arguing that Meghan can’t really get litigious over the letter, because it was bound to be published eventually. I mean, true. That’s a pretty airtight legal defense if you ask me. When you make the choice to communicate with expert paternal blabbermouth Thomas Markle, you might as well teleconference in a line from The Daily Mail and Xerox a copy of any correspondence, paper or email, to The Sun. Just to save everyone involved some time. It’s the polite thing to do, people are busy! Speaking of, if Meghan’s lawyers can’t convince the judge to rule on a summary judgement in favor of Meghan, maybe they can try to get the trial scrapped on a scheduling technicality. Meghan has transitioned from Duchess to Streaming Service Empress and Podcasting Queen. She doesn’t have time for this.

Pic: Wenn.com

Our commenting rules: Don't be racist or bigoted, or post comments like "Who cares?", or have multiple accounts, or repost a comment that was deleted by a mod, or post NSFW pics/videos/GIFs, or go off topic when not in an Open Post, or post paparazzi/event/red carpet pics from photo agencies due to copyright infringement issues. Also, promoting adblockers, your website, or your forum is not allowed. Breaking a rule may result in your Disqus account getting permanently or temporarily banned. New commenters must go through a period of pre-moderation. And some posts may be pre-moderated so it could take a minute for your comment to appear if it's approved. If you have a question or an issue with comments, email: michaelk@dlisted.com

src="https://c.statcounter.com/922697/0/f674ac4a/1/"
alt="drupal analytics" >