Meghan Markle Receives Front-Page Apology After Winning Lawsuit
Meghan Markle just scored a major victory in her legal case against the Mail on Sunday. As a result of her win, the publication published an apology on its front page, per PEOPLE. Markle was originally awarded this victory back in March with a judge ruling that the Mail on Sunday owed her a public apology. While the outlet attempted to challenge the ruling, it was upheld on Dec. 2 by the Court of Appeal in London.
It was determined that Mail on Sunday and the MailOnline website breached Markle's privacy in February 2019 when they published parts of a letter that she wrote to her father, Thomas Markle, after her May 2018 wedding to Prince Harry. Earlier this year, a court ruled that Markle was entitled to an apology from both the Mail on Sunday and MailOnline for the breach. The apology began, "The Duchess of Sussex wins her legal case for copyright infringement against Associated Newspapers for articles published in The Mail on Sunday and posted on Mail Online."
"Following a hearing on 19-20 January, 2021, and a further hearing on 5 May, 2021, the Court has given judgment for the Duchess of Sussex on her claim for copyright infringement," the remainder of the apology, which was published on page 3, reads. "The Court found that Associated Newspapers infringed her copyright by publishing extracts of her handwritten letter to her father in The Mail on Sunday and on Mail Online. Financial remedies have been agreed." Just as they mentioned in this public apology, Markle will also be awarded substantial financial damages from Mail on Sunday. The outlet must pay 90% of Markle's estimated $1.88 million in legal fees that she accrued over the course of the 18-month-long case.
As a part of the court's ruling, this apology must also appear on the homepage for MailOnline "for a period of one week." The apology must include a link to the official judgment and specifically use language that reads, "The full judgment and the Court's summary of it can be found here." MailOnline is the official website for the Daily Mail while Mail on Sunday is the Daily Mail's sister paper. Both of the properties are under the division of dmg media, which is owned by Daily Mail and General Trust pic.
Markle issued a statement when it was determined in early December that Mail on Sunday would have to publish a public apology. Her statement began, "This is a victory not just for me, but for anyone who has ever felt scared to stand up for what's right." She continued, "While this win is precedent setting, what matters most is that we are now collectively brave enough to reshape a tabloid industry that conditions people to be cruel, and profits from the lies and pain that they create."