Meghan’s bid to avoid court battle over father’s letter
Duchess wants judge to rule on her privacy case without a trial
MEGHaN Markle has asked the High Court to delay her high-stakes privacy trial against a newspaper.
Her reasons will be discussed at a hearing today – part of which will be held in secret.
she also wants a judge to determine her case without having a full trial at all, meaning she would not enter the witness box at the Royal Courts of Justice.
The trial is due to start on January 11, with the Duchess of sussex facing the prospect of a courtroom clash with her estranged father, Thomas Markle.
Meghan, 39, is suing the Mail on sunday – the Daily Mail’s sister paper – for breach of privacy for publishing extracts of a letter she sent Mr Markle after her royal wedding in 2018.
But now she has applied for the case to be postponed, and also for it to be decided by
Secret hearing today will reveal her reasons
‘summary judgment’ – a legal step meaning a judge giving a ruling without a full trial.
It is among a flurry of legal moves by Meghan’s lawyers ahead of a preliminary hearing today.
They have made a series of applications in a bid to change the course of the case. Yesterday a court order revealed by the Press association said that part of Meghan’s applications today would be heard in private ‘in order to protect the confidentiality of some of the facts put in evidence’. No further details were given. The duchess’s lawyers are also seeking permission to appeal against a ruling that brings the gushing royal biography Finding Freedom into the case.
last month, she lost a bid to block the book from being relied on by the Mail on sunday.
The newspaper’s l awyers argued that she co- operated with the authors, omid scobie and Carolyn Durand, to set out a version of events that was favourable to her. The duchess denies collaborating with the authors.
In today’s application, Meghan is seeking permission to overturn that ruling.
The duchess, who has missed the court’s deadline to serve an updated ‘reply’ to the newspaper’s defence, is also seeking to extend the deadline.
and she wants more time before disclosing documents in her possession.
Both sides in the case have a duty to disclose relevant documents such as messages and emails to the other side.
Central to the case is Meghan’s alleged role in authorisi ng five of her best friends, described as her ‘inner circle’, to give an anonymous interview to Us magazine People, in which the letter to her father was mentioned.
Meghan’s lawyers have categorically denied she knew they were giving t he magazine the interview.
The newspaper argues she must have known, and wants any messages between Meghan and her friends to be disclosed to the court.
The newspaper also claims she authorised friends to brief the authors of the biography, and is seeking to see any relevant messages the duchess sent or received.
at a preliminary hearing last month, Meghan’s l awyers declared she was prepared to step into the witness box for the trial.
But her new application, if successful, would mean Mr Justice Warby would decide the case without a trial.
He would make up his mind based on written evidence submissions and oral submissions from barristers, without the need for witnesses to take the witness stand.
all of Meghan’s applications will be considered at two High Court hearings today.
The ten-day trial due to start in January will cost millions of pounds – with the duchess’s own l egal bill predicted to be £1.8million.