In the Meghan Markle trial against Associated Newspapers, the Duchess was finally right, but no apology.
Montecito – The British Daily Mail published a letter from Duchess Meghan * to her father Thomas Markle in February 2019. The relationship between the two was already more than tense at this point. The father repeatedly complained publicly about his daughter and Prince Harry. Duchess Meghan tried to somehow save the relationship with a personal letter – and wrote him by hand not to address the public.
Instead of helping, the document only made things worse. Thomas Markle passed the letter on to the press, it was published in the “Associated Newspapers”. A slap in the face for Duchess Meghan, who then filed a lawsuit against the newspaper. The newspaper wanted to manipulate readers by deliberately omitting some parts of the letter and changing words.
Court ruled: Duchess Meghan’s letter was illegally published
Prince Harry said in a statement that Meghan had become a “victim” of a “ruthless campaign” and “relentless propaganda”. It is time to “oppose this behavior because it destroys people and lives.” Meghan’s lawyer advocated a claim for damages due to the violation of personal rights. Copyrights and data protection laws would have been violated. Partial victories, partial defeats, apologies * and a lot of drama followed. Now Meghan Markle was finally right. The court actually decided in their favor at the beginning of the year. But the defendants appealed * – this has now been rejected. The verdict is final.
Meghan Markle: “Financial compensation” agreed – allegedly in this amount
The Daily Mail therefore wrote on its page regarding Markle: “The court found that Associated Newspapers infringed their copyright by posting excerpts from their handwritten letter to their father in the Mail on Sunday and Mail Online .” “Financial compensation” had been agreed. And this one seems to have washed.
The Sun estimated Markle’s court costs alone in the past two years at a good 1.5 million pounds, which corresponds to about 1.8 million euros. These must be taken over by the media authority after the defeat. For the time being, the court set the amount to be paid at £ 450,000 (approx. € 535,000). Further payments can follow.
Meghan Markle will probably continue to wait for an apology
The Duchess is still waiting for one thing: In court, the 40-year-old demanded an apology in addition to money. The Daily Mail published the verdict on the front page. The publisher refrained from making an explicit apology. (jh) * merkur.de is part of IPPEN.Media
