Meghan Markle loses latest court battle in privacy lawsuit with newspaper

Meghan Markle has lost the latest court battle in her privacy lawsuit against a UK tabloid newspaper.

London's High Court ruled on Tuesday the paper could amend its case ahead of a trial next year.

Meghan is suing the publisher of the Mail On Sunday and MailOnline over an article which reproduced parts of a "private and confidential" handwritten letter she sent to her estranged father Thomas Markle, 76, in August 2018.

Last week, the paper applied for permission to amend its case, arguing that the couple had cooperated with a biography about them which was published in August, and that showed Meghan had intended some private details to become public, including the contents of the letter.

The judge, Francesca Kaye, said that while she made no view on the strength of the Mail's case, the amendments could not be said to be 'unarguable or utterly fanciful'.

At a preliminary hearing last week, Associated Newspapers Ltd asked for permission to amend its written defence to Meghan's claim to argue that the Sussexes "cooperated" with the authors of Finding Freedom.

The publisher argued that Meghan gave the authors, Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand, information about the letter to Mr Markle "in order to set out her own version of events in a way that is favourable to her".

But Meghan's lawyers said accusations the duke and duchess "collaborated" with the authors was a "conspiracy theory" and argued that references to the letter in the book were simply "extracts from the letter lifted from the defendant's own articles".

Ruling on ANL's application on Tuesday, Judge Francesca Kaye allowed the publisher to amend its defence to rely on Finding Freedom.

The judge said the amended defence did not raise "new defences", but simply added "further particulars" of ANL's case.

She added that Meghan "knows the case she has to meet" and that "there is no suggestion that she is in fact unable to do so".

Meghan is suing Associated Newspapers Ltd over five articles in total - two in the MoS and three on MailOnline - which were published in February 2019 and reproduced parts of a handwritten letter she sent to her father in August 2018.

The headline on the article read: "Revealed: The letter showing the true tragedy of Meghan's rift with a father she says has 'broken her heart into a million pieces'."

The duchess is seeking damages from ANL for alleged misuse of private information, copyright infringement and breach of the Data Protection Act.

ANL wholly denies the allegations, particularly the duchess's claim that the letter was edited in any way that changed its meaning, and says it will hotly contest the case.

ANL won the first skirmish in the legal action on May 1, when Mr Justice Warby struck out parts of Meghan's claim, including allegations that the publisher acted "dishonestly" by leaving out certain passages of the letter.

Court papers show Meghan has agreed to pay ANL's Sh9.5 million (£67,888) costs for that hearing in full.

In a statement after the ruling, a spokesman for Schillings - the law firm which is representing Meghan - said: "The court has today stated that The Mail on Sunday will be allowed to amend its legal defence for trial regardless of whether that defence is accurate or true which, based on legally sworn witness statements refuting the newspaper's arguments, it is not."

They added: "The (judge) made clear that if The Mail on Sunday's defence is indeed weak and without evidence, it would be a house of cards and fall down at trial.

"As a reminder, it is The Mail on Sunday and Associated Newspapers who acted unlawfully and are the ones on trial, not the Duchess of Sussex - although they would like their readers to believe otherwise."