FILE
- Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrive at the
annual Endeavour Fund Awards in London on March 5, 2020. A judge in
London on Wednesday, July 29, 2020 is hearing the latest stage in the
Duchess of Sussex’s privacy-infringement lawsuit against a British
newspaper, as Meghan tries to keep the names of five of her friends out
of the public eye. The former Meghan Markle is suing the publisher of
the Mail on Sunday at Britain’s High Court over five articles that
published portions of a handwritten letter she wrote to her estranged
father, Thomas Markle. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File)
LONDON
(AP) — Lawyers for the Duchess of Sussex asked a judge at a London
court on Wednesday to keep the names of five of her friends out of the
public domain as she wages a privacy-infringement battle against a
British newspaper.
Meghan’s attorney
said the female friends, who defended her in anonymous magazine
interviews last year, are innocent parties who fear intrusion if their
names come out. The target of her lawsuit, Associated Newspapers Ltd.,
argues that the principle of open justice — the public’s right to know —
means the friends should be identified.
The
former Meghan Markle is suing the publisher of the Mail on Sunday
newspaper and the MailOnline website at Britain’s High Court over five
articles that published portions of a handwritten letter she wrote to
her estranged father, Thomas Markle, after her marriage to Prince Harry
in 2018.
Meghan, 38, is
seeking damages from the publisher for alleged misuse of private
information, copyright infringement and data protection breaches. Her
lawyers say publishing the letter was “a flagrant and unjustified
intrusion into her private and family life.” Associated Newspapers says
it will strongly contest the claim.
At
a half-day pretrial hearing, Meghan’s lawyers asked judge Mark Warby to
prohibit publishing the personal details of the friends who spoke to
People magazine in early 2019 to condemn alleged bullying of the duchess
by the U.K. press.
The women’s names are included in a confidential court document, but they have been identified in public only as A to E.
Meghan’s
attorney, Justin Rushbrooke, argued that the court had a duty to
“protect the identity of confidential journalistic sources.”
He
said that with the full high-profile libel trial yet to begin, the
court should be cautious and protect “the innocent party who fears
intrusion.”
But the Mail’s lawyer, Antony White, said granting anonymity would undermine the “vitally important open justice principle.”
“The
friends are important potential witnesses on a key issue,” White said
in a written argument. He said removing their names “would be a heavy
curtailment of the media’s and the defendant’s entitlement to report
this case and the public’s right to know about it.”
Associated
Newspapers says it was Meghan’s friends who brought the letter to
Thomas Markle into the public domain by describing it in the People
article. It argues that details of the letter in that article must have
come “directly or indirectly” from the duchess.