Meghan Markle scores legal victory in Associated Newspapers privacy dispute - Fox News

The Duchess of Sussex won the latest stage in her privacy lawsuit against a British newspaper on Thursday, when three senior judges ruled its publisher breached her privacy by reproducing parts of a letter she wrote to her estranged father.

The duchess formally known as American actress Meghan Markle said the Court of Appeal ruling was a victory of "right versus wrong." She issued a call to "reshape a tabloid industry" that has long been the bane of both celebrities and British royals.

Britain's High Court ruled in February that the publisher of The Mail on Sunday and MailOnline website unlawfully breached Meghan's privacy with five articles that reproduced a large chunk of a handwritten letter she sent her father, Thomas Markle, after she married Prince Harry in 2018.

Dismissing the appeal, senior appeals judge Geoffrey Vos said Thursday that "the Duchess had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the contents of the letter.

In a statement, Meghan, 40, said the ruling was "a victory not just for me, but for anyone who has ever felt scared to stand up for what’s right.".

The Court of Appeal in London upheld a High Court ruling in February that publication of the letter that Meghan Markle wrote to her father Thomas Markle after she married Prince Harry in 2018 was unlawful and breached her privacy.

In her statement Thursday, Meghan said she had been subject to "deception, intimidation and calculated attacks" in the three years since the lawsuit began.

The publisher said in a statement Thursday that "judgment should be given only on the basis of evidence tested at trial," especially since "Mr

Lawyer Mark Stephens, who specializes in media law and is not connected to the case, said he believed the publisher will appeal, though it would be unusual for Britain’s Supreme Court to take such a case

He said the publisher could also try to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights

"There’s an issue of principle here, which is whether this case should be finished before a trial without disclosure, without testing the evidence," Stephens said

The ruling did not settle questions about whether the letter to Thomas Markle was "always intended for Meghan’s side to publish and to leak and to use as briefing material," he added

Associated Newspapers "have a right to this trial, and I think that that is just going to protract the pain for Meghan Markle," Stephens said