A UK court on Thursday rejected an appeal by the Press Association Limited (ANL) against an earlier ruling that the duchess had a reasonable expectation of privacy in relation to her letter. sent to his father Thomas Markle in August 2018.
ANL and The Mail earlier Sunday said they stood by the decision to release excerpts from the handwritten letter and would defend the case vigorously.
The court said in a summary of the ruling on Thursday that the duchess “had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the content of the letter.”
“Those contents are personal, private and not a matter of legitimate public interest,” the court said. “The articles in the Mail on Sunday interfered with the duchess’ reasonable expectations for privacy.”
In a statement on Thursday, Meghan celebrated the ruling and outlined her hope that it would help change the UK journalism industry. ANL also publishes the Daily Mail, Britain’s largest tabloid.
“This is a victory not only for me but for anyone who has ever felt the fear of standing up for what is right,” the statement read.
“While this victory is pre-established, the most important thing is that now we collectively have the courage to reshape a tabloid industry in which people are cruel, and profit from the lies and pain they create.”
The Duchess won her privacy case before ANL in February when a judge ruled the “disclosures are clearly excessive and therefore unlawful” and that “there would be no prospect that another ruling will be made after a trial.”
However, the ANL opposed the ruling and pushed for a trial to take place.
In her statement on Thursday, Meghan criticized the publisher for dragging out the lawsuit and “making a simple case more complicated to generate more headlines and sell more newspapers – a model that rewards chaos over truth.”
“In the nearly three years since this started, I have patiently faced deception, intimidation, and calculated attacks,” she said.
“Today, the courts have ruled in my favor – again – asserting that The Mail on Sunday, owned by Lord Jonathan Rothermere, broke the law.”
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