✉️ Meghan wins £1 privacy damages over her letter to her father

The publisher of the Mail on Sunday will pay the Duchess of Sussex £1 in damages for misusing her private information, according to court documents reported by The Guardian on Jan. 5, 2022. The same documents confirm that Associated Newspapers and MailOnline have accepted defeat and will not take the case to the Supreme Court. A further sum for copyright infringement is confidential.

The claim

Meghan's lawyers at Schillings filed the claim in the High Court's Chancery Division in autumn 2019, reported by the BBC and The Telegraph on Oct. 1-2 of that year. It covered misuse of private information, copyright infringement and breach of the Data Protection Act 2018, over a handwritten five-page letter she sent her father, Thomas Markle, in August 2018. The Sussexes funded the case privately, and said any damages would go to an anti-bullying charity.

A Mail on Sunday spokesman said the paper stood by the story and would defend the case vigorously. It said it "categorically" denied that the letter was edited in any way that changed its meaning.

In May 2020, Justice Warby struck out parts of the claim, her allegations of dishonesty and malice, as irrelevant to whether she had a valid claim, USA Today reported. Her team said the core allegation survived and that she would not appeal.

The ruling

On Feb. 11, 2021, Justice Warby gave Meghan summary judgment on her privacy claim and part of her copyright claim. Meghan said in a statement that she was grateful to the courts for holding the publisher to account. A spokesman for Associated Newspapers said it was "very surprised" and disappointed at being denied a full trial.

"manifestly excessive and hence unlawful"

Justice Warby on publication of the letter, as quoted by CNN and the BBC, February 2021

The money

At a hearing on March 2, 2021, the court granted Meghan an interim £450,000 toward her costs. She had asked for £750,000. Associated Newspapers argued that her costs bill of about £1.5m was disproportionate, The Guardian reported. The court also heard that she was willing to cap damages for the privacy claim at a nominal award to save time and cost.

The Guardian reported that Meghan's spokesperson described the copyright payment as substantial and said it would be donated to charity. Media lawyer Mark Stephens told the paper that for this kind of invasion of privacy "you would expect £75,000 to £125,000".

The appeal, and the apology on page one

Associated Newspapers appealed in a three-day hearing from Nov. 9 to 11, 2021. Its lawyer, Andrew Caldecott, told the Court of Appeal (England's second-highest court) that the letter was crafted with possible public consumption in mind. On Dec. 2, three judges dismissed the appeal. The Master of the Rolls, Sir Geoffrey Vos, said it was hard to see what evidence at trial could have altered the situation. The publisher said it was "very disappointed" and considering the Supreme Court. Court documents later showed it did not go.

On Dec. 26, 2021, the Mail on Sunday printed a court-ordered statement at the bottom of its front page. A 64-word item on page three said it had infringed copyright and that "financial remedies have been agreed". The Guardian reported that MailOnline posted its version at 11.58pm on Christmas Day. The statement ran on one of the year's quietest news days, a matter of editorial judgment.

The record has a complication. In November 2021 Meghan apologised to the court for not remembering that she had authorised her former communications secretary, Jason Knauf, to brief the authors of an unofficial biography. She said she had no wish to mislead anyone. Associated Newspapers said Knauf's evidence raised issues as to her credibility. The court of appeal ruled against the publisher regardless.