The judge ruled that “the disclosures were manifestly excessive and therefore illegal” and that there would be “no prospect of a different judgment being reached after a trial.”
“The claimant had a reasonable expectation that the contents of the letter would remain private. The mail items interfered with this reasonable expectation,” he wrote in the judgment.
The Mail on Sunday and Associated Newspapers previously said they maintained the decision to publish excerpts from the letter and would vigorously defend the case.
Meghan welcomed the sentence in a statement harshly criticizing the tabloid. “After two long years of prosecution, I thank the courts for asking Associated Newspapers and The Mail on Sunday to explain their illegal and dehumanizing practices,” he said.
“These tactics (and those of their sister publications MailOnline and the Daily Mail) are not new; in fact, they have been doing too long without consequences.
“For these outlets, it’s a game. For me and so many others, it’s real life, real relationships and real sadness. The damage they’ve done and continue to do is profound,” Meghan said.
Meghan thanked her legal team, family and supporters and added, “We all lose when misinformation sells more than truth, when moral exploitation sells more than decency, and when companies create their business model to make a profit. of the pain of the people. But for today, with that we gain both privacy and copyright, we have all won.
Another hearing to decide issues related to the case and outline the next steps will take place on March 2, but the summary judgment means the privacy aspects of the case have been decided and will not be brought to trial.
The case focuses on the newspaper’s publication of a handwritten letter from Meghan to her father, sent shortly after she and Prince Harry were married in May 2018.
According to that post, Meghan had complained to her father that she had ignored many of her attempts at contact, telling him that her actions had “broken my heart into a million pieces.”
The original Sunday Mail article also included claims by Thomas Markle that he had contacted “several times” in an attempt to correct things.
Meghan is seeking damages for misuse of private information, copyright infringement and non-compliance with the 2018 Data Protection Act.