Meghan Markle wins court bid to delay Mail on Sunday privacy trial
Meghan Markle has won her bid to have her privacy case against the Mail on Sunday pushed back until next autumn after citing confidential reasons.
The Duchess of Sussex is suing parent company Associated Newspapers over articles in the Mail on Sunday that published parts of a letter she sent to her father in 2018.
High Court judge Mark Warby today said he had granted a delay to the trial, which was due to start on 11 January. The trial will now begin in the autumn, with an exact date to be decided later.
“The primary basis for the application is a confidential ground, the merits of which have been examined in the course of a private hearing,” he said. “My conclusion is that the right decision in all the circumstances is to grant the application.”
Shares in Daily Mail and General Trust, the umbrella media group that owns Associated Newspapers, were down almost 1.5 per cent following the judgement.
Markle is suing Associated Newspapers over five articles, claiming damages for alleged misuse of private information, as well as copyright and data privacy breaches.
Last month the Mail on Sunday won permission to amend its defence to the case, arguing that the couple cooperated over a biography about them, Finding Freedom, which was published in August.
Lawyers for Markle, who has also signed a lucrative deal with Netflix to make documentaries, have launched an appeal against that decision and asked the judge to rule on the case without a full trial.
The judge said he would hear arguments for a so-called summary trial, which removes the need for witnesses, in January.
The Mail on Sunday has defended its articles and has said it will defend the case “vigorously”.