New defeat for Meghan Markle in her legal battle against British tabloids
The judge has admitted that the defendants rely on the biography 'Finding Freedom' to defend themselves
New chapter in the Duchess of Sussex's legal battle against the British tabloids Mail on Sunday and Daily Mail for spreading a private letter she sent to her father in August 2018. With a new lawyer like Justin Rushbrooke leading her defense, Meghan Markle has not achieved, at the moment, better results than those obtained with David Sherbone, whom he decided to do without just a few days ago. The judge has admitted that the Associated Newspapers publishing group, owner of the defendant media, includes in its defense that the recent biography of the Dukes of Sussex Finding freedom also contains parts of the letter, estimating that it has had the cooperation of those interested .
In the preliminary hearing that took place last week, Rushbrooke denied that the Duchess or Prince Harry had collaborated with the writers of the book, Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand, assuring in writing that they "had neither been interviewed nor provided photographs to the authors. "and that the excerpts from the letter that appear in the biography, published in August, come from" the articles of the accused themselves. " However, the representatives of the tabloids believe that they can rely on the fact that parts of the letter in question appear in the book to defend their position, something that the judge has considered pertinent.
One of lime and one of sand
Meghan Markle is getting one of lime and another of sand in her litigation against the tabloid press. In August, she was able to savor her first victory by getting the magistrate to prohibit the disclosure of the identity of five friends, the same ones who voluntarily granted an anonymous interview in the United States when they tried to defend her against the media pressure of these media. "These five women are not being tried and neither am I (...). Each of these women is a private citizen, a young mother, and each one has the right to privacy," he stated in the brief he presented to the Court.
However, in May she saw how Judge Mark Warby decided to dismiss parts of the lawsuit in which Meghan accused the Associated Newspaper publishing group of having acted in a "dishonest" manner, thus contributing to deteriorate the relationship between her father and her. According to Prince Harry's wife, the defendant media deliberately concealed parts of the letter to harm her within a media agenda that, in her opinion, consists of publishing offensive stories about her to damage her image, an accusation that was also rejected in this instance .
Now, he assumes a new defeat, but the trial continues and the costs already amount to about 1.8 million pounds for the Duchess of Sussex and just over 1.2 million for the defendants, as reported by Jessie Bowhill, a member of Markle's defense. "Something provided", he assures for a case of these characteristics.
Relations between the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and the press have always been tense but now seem to have reached their peak. Shortly before this legal battle started, the couple announced that they were breaking all ties with four major British tabloids: Daily Mail, Daily Mirror, The Sun and Daily Express, as well as the generalist publications to which these newspapers belong. Days after this announcement and before the preview, the messages that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex sent to Meghan's father before their wedding in May 2018 and that have become part of the court investigation came to light. In them, Harry and Meghan were interested in the former Hollywood lighting director who suffered a heart attack days before their daughter's wedding.
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