Lawyers for a British newspaper publisher that’s being sued for invasion of privacy by the Duchess of Sussex argued Monday that she made personal information public by cooperating with the authors of a book about her relationship with Prince Harry.
Meghan Markle is suing the publisher of the Mail on Sunday and the MailOnline website over five articles that published portions of a handwritten letter she wrote to her estranged father, Thomas Markle, after her marriage to Harry in 2018.
Meghan, 39, is seeking damages from publisher Associated Newspapers Ltd. for alleged misuse of private information, copyright infringement and data protection breaches.
Associated Newspapers is contesting the claim. At a hearing Monday at the High Court in London, the publisher sought to amend its defense in light of a book about the couple published last month.
It said the book — Finding Freedom — “contains a great deal of detailed information about (Meghan’s) personal life, including a number of passages referring to her relationship and communications with her father, and a section referring to the letter which is at the heart of this case.”
Antony White, the lawyer for Associated Newspapers, said in written submissions that the book appeared to have been written with Meghan and Harry’s “extensive cooperation.”
Meghan’s lawyers denied that she cooperated with the authors of the book, Carolyn Durand and Omid Scobie.
“The claimant and her husband did not collaborate with the authors on the book, nor were they interviewed for it, nor did they provide photographs to the authors for the book,” Meghan’s lawyer Justin Rushbrook said in a written submission.
Meghan is now being represented by Rushbrook after David Sherborne lost the first round in her pre-trial hearing against the newspaper group.
Monday’s court session was the latest preliminary hearing in the high-cost, high-profile case. A full trial is currently scheduled to begin in January.
Following an earlier hearing in May, a judge dismissed parts of Meghan’s claim, including allegations that Associated Newspapers acted “dishonestly” by leaving out certain parts of her letter to her father.
The judge also struck out allegations that the publisher deliberately stirred up issues between Meghan and her father and that it had an agenda in publishing intrusive articles about her.
ITV News’ Royal Editor Chris Ship revealed more details on Twitter:
Mail on Sunday is now claiming that Meghan was “frustrated” the Palace’s media approach – and decided to “bypass” the press office in late 2018 and use her friends “as de facto PR agents” in order “to influence the media in a positive way”.
— Chris Ship (@chrisshipitv) September 21, 2020
The newspaper defence says @scobie “seems to confirm that people working on behalf of [Meghan] co-operated with the authors and gave them the names of people close to [Meghan] who would help.” It adds @scobie implies “he spoke to then both [Harry & Meghan] with some frequency”.
— Chris Ship (@chrisshipitv) September 21, 2020
We also learn that Finding Freedom author @scobie has given a witness statement to say the book was “independent and unauthorised”. The Mail on Sunday says it “will wish to test @scobie’s evidence in cross-examination”. 📚
— Chris Ship (@chrisshipitv) September 21, 2020
The newspaper’s legal team says they are aware of at least one incident in April 2018 when Meghan used her friend @jessicamulroney to act as a “PR agent” on Meghan’s behalf to “influence” press coverage.
The Mail on Sunday says this is admitted by Meghan’s legal team.— Chris Ship (@chrisshipitv) September 21, 2020
Judge Francesca Kaye has just said to both Meghan’s lawyers and the Mail on Sunday lawyers that their estimated costs in excess of £3million “are disproportionate”.
Neither sums are “modest” she said and are not proportionate “to the issues being discussed in this case”. 💰💰— Chris Ship (@chrisshipitv) September 21, 2020
Last month a judge ruled that the duchess can keep secret the names of five close friends who defended her anonymously in an American magazine against alleged U.K. media bullying.
High Court judge Mark Warby agreed, “for the time being at least,” to grant Meghan’s request to protect the anonymity of friends who defended her in the pages of a U.S. magazine in order to spare them a “frenzy of publicity” before the case comes to a full trial.
American actress Meghan Markle, star of TV legal drama “Suits”, married Harry, grandson of Queen Elizabeth II, in a lavish ceremony at Windsor Castle in May 2018. Their son, Archie, was born the following year.
Early this year the couple announced they were quitting royal duties and moving to North America, citing what they said was unbearable intrusion and racist attitudes from the British media. They recently bought a house in Santa Barbara, California.
