Meghan Markle has lost the first early round of her privacy battle against a British publication that published parts of a letter to her estranged father, Thomas Markle.
WATCH: Thomas Markle eager to meet Meghan and Harry even if it’s in court
The Duchess of Sussex sued Associated Newspapers for ‘invasion of privacy’ and ‘copyright infringement’ last year when articles that had excerpts of her letter she wrote in 2018 were published.
In a ruling on Friday, Judge Mark Warby dismissed some of the causes of action that were in her lawsuit, which included claims that the newspaper acted “dishonestly” by only quoting parts of her letter.
Judge Warby also threw out claims that Associated Newspapers deliberately “stirred up” a dispute between Meghan and her father, in an attempt to publish offensive stories about her.
The judge claims that these allegations won’t be part of her case moving forward, as he didn’t find them relevant in establishing whether or not the publisher was guilty of the illegal acts that Meghan has cited in her lawsuit, such as misuse of private information, copyright infringement and breach of the Data Protection Act.
Judge Warby did, however, state that that the dismissed claims may be revisited at a later stage.
Meghan’s lawyers have argued that the handwritten letter was “private and intimate”, accusing the paper of unfairly targeting Meghan with “distortive, manipulative, and dishonest tactics”.
“The duchess’ rights were violated; the legal boundaries around privacy were crossed,” her lawyers said in a statement on Friday.
Meghan’s lawyers are reportedly surprised that the judges have suggested that “dishonest behaviour is not relevant,” but added that “the core elements of this case do not change and will continue to move forward”.
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