Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, has won her privacy case against The Mail on Sunday following the decision of the High Court. The Judge, Mr Justice Warby, ruled that the Duchess’ privacy had been breached by the newspaper who had printed extracts from a “personal and private” handwritten letter she had sent to her estranged father, Thomas Markle.
HRH The Duchess of Sussex v Associated Newspapers Ltd. [2021] EWHC 273 (Ch)
Summary
Back in February 2019, The Mail on Sunday printed five articles which reproduced parts of a letter sent to Thomas Markle by the Duchess in August 2018.
Following the publication of the extracts, Meghan Markle brought legal action against Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), the publisher of The Mail On Sunday and MailOnline, for alleged:
- Misuse of her private information;
- Infringement of copyright; and
- Breach of the Data Protection Act 2018.
The Duchess of Sussex’s legal team requested that the Court grant summary judgment in relation to her claim for misuse of private information and breach of copyright, as ANL had no prospect of defending these claims.
In defence, ANL argued that Thomas Markle had asked them to publish the extracts from the letter to set the record straight.
High Court ruling
Mr Justice Warby agreed with the Duchess’ legal representatives, granting summary judgment, which found that the publication of the letter was “manifestly excessive and hence unlawful”. Adding:
“It was, in short, a personal and private letter. The majority of what was published was about the claimant’s own behaviour, her feelings of anguish about her father’s behaviour – as she saw it – and the resulting rift between them.
“These are inherently private and personal matters…
“The claimant had a reasonable expectation that the contents of the letter would remain private. The Mail articles interfered with that reasonable expectation.”
Further adding:
“There is no prospect that a different judgment would be reached after a trial.”
With regards to the copyright claim brought by the Duchess, the Judge ruled that the publication of the letter had infringed her copyright. However, a determination at a further hearing in March was required in relation to whether the letter was written solely by the Duchess or was written jointly with Jason Knauf, formerly Communications Secretary to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
Finally, in respect of the data protection claim, this was not considered at the hearing and remains outstanding.
It is understood that The Mail on Sunday is considering whether to appeal against the ruling of the High Court.
Statements
Following the judgment, the Duchess of Sussex released a statement in which she stated that she was grateful that ANL and The Mail on Sunday had been “held to account for their illegal and dehumanising practices”.
Adding:
“These tactics (and those of their sister publications MailOnline and the Daily Mail) are not new; in fact, they’ve been going on for far too long without consequence.
“For these outlets, it’s a game. For me and so many others, it’s real life, real relationships, and very real sadness. The damage they have done and continue to do runs deep.
“The world needs reliable, fact-checked, high-quality news. What The Mail on Sunday and its partner publications do is the opposite.
“We all lose when misinformation sells more than truth, when moral exploitation sells more than decency, and when companies create their business model to profit from people’s pain.”
ANL also released a statement, which stated:
“We are very surprised by today’s summary judgment and disappointed at being denied the chance to have all the evidence heard and tested in open court at a full trial.
“We are carefully considering the judgment’s contents and will decide in due course whether to lodge an appeal.”
Comment
The outcome of this case will no doubt be welcomed by those that have similarly been wronged by newspapers. As a practitioner in privacy cases, I have lost track of the number of clients that have made contact with me complaining about what a newspaper has written about them. Whether there is a claim to be pursued is very case specific however as there are potential defences available to newspapers and the Courts must conduct a balancing exercise as to whether a newspaper has stepped over the line in terms of what they have printed.
At the one end of the spectrum is the Duchess’ case, which involved them printing clearly private information written to her father in a circumstance where confidence would be expected to arise. The Judge’s view in such circumstances is clearly the right view. There are however many less clear cut cases and accordingly it is always essential to seek expert advice as soon as possible, not least because the period within which a Claimant has to bring a claim can be quite short.
How Nelsons can help
Kevin Modiri is a Partner in our expert Dispute Resolution team.
Should you be affected by any matters involving an invasion of your privacy, please do not hesitate to contact Kevin or another member of the team in Derby, Leicester or Nottingham on 0800 024 1976 or via our online enquiry form.