Harry & Meghan, all welcome (aka positive thread, now renamed!)

[Roussette]

Here we are, let's inform, discuss, share and respect.

I think Meghan had a clear case about the letter and will win that
I do too and I hope so, I hope she gives the MoS a bloody nose.

And yes, she should've just stuck at that, because focussing on other stuff is taking away from what could be a worthy victory against invasive reporting.

A lot of this lobbying to enhance your position is what happens in the USA. It’s not what usually happens here. As I said earlier, a dignified silence is the better strategy! Yes Meghan is allowing the briefings. Difficult to know if it’s her barrister (I’d be surprised) or her PR team but the judge isn’t amused. She’s playing a dangerous game.

AN are not settling with her. They are too invested in it now and even losing could be a win for them. She’s got more to lose. She already paying £68,000 for legal costs in the first round in May but haven’t read about costs in this round. The main hearing will be costly.

This case is about privacy. It’s difficult to take Meghan’s position seriously when she leaks info to the newspapers. That doesn’t seem like sensible actions for a “private” person.

I hope she wins too, mainly because I dislike the DM so intensely. But all this briefing journalists during the case is not good at all. It seems rather hypocritical to say the least.
Not a good look.

I would not be remotely surprised if the Daily Mail is not currently going through Omid Scobie's tweets identifying everything that he has said that comes from a "source close to" or a "close friend of" Meghan or Harry, since they now have an actual basis for speculating that these statements came directly from Meghan and Harry. Honestly, this is not great for them.

@Roussette

I think Meghan had a clear case about the letter and will win that I do too and I hope so, I hope she gives the MoS a bloody nose. And yes, she should've just stuck at that, because focussing on other stuff is taking away from what could be a worthy victory against invasive reporting.

In terms of copyright law I think you are right and she may well win. In the end though, as the Johnny Depp case has shown, there is more to legal actions against the media that the simple facts of law.

The invasion of privacy defence is going to be harder to prove now as it seems that there is some evidence of MM's team providing information to media sources.

May be it coppers down to what is meant by privacy. Is it, I have the right not to have my life reported on or does it mean I have the right to only have reported that which I choose to inform the media about.

Comes down to!

Is this the type of court case where the NA will get access to their emails, texts and phone records?

meercat I appreciate your post and it does make sense to me.

Scobie's eagerness to show his inside knowledge and get it out there is going to come back to haunt him and the Sussexes in this case. It does make their case for wanting privacy awkward when he's said things like that statement that Meghan expected the letter to her father to be made public.

NA? If the claimant or defendant uses such emails and texts etc in evidence then the other side has a right to see them. They may restrict reporting on them though. The way the evidence is structured by each side might circumvent the actual documents being made public. Others may know more.

If you were a friend of H&M, I'd imagine having your messages read by AN would be bad enough even if they aren't allowed to publicise them.
I think an unintended consequence of this case is that it might make H&M seem like a liability to the more famous/influential/serious circles that they wanted to move into. Those circles rely on discretion and carefully managed public images. They can't risk their personal correspondence somehow being dragged into court cases with the media.

@My0My

NA? If the claimant or defendant uses such emails and texts etc in evidence then the other side has a right to see them. They may restrict reporting on them though. The way the evidence is structured by each side might circumvent the actual documents being made public. Others may know more.

NA was a typo of AN. Sausage fingers! And annoyingly MN don’t have an edit function like other sites do!

Thanks for the response though. I was just curious, as obviously a lot of things came out of text messages at the Johnny Depp trial (eg Johnny & Paul Bettany saying vile things about Amber Heard) that was used as evidence.

So for example (and this is just an example, not what I think or what actually happened), if they think she has regularly contact Omid Scobie, who then releases information on his social media or in articles or in his book, they could use that as evidence against her and have access to her correspondence with Omid? But they won’t be able to just scroll through her messages to Amal & George Clooney because it’s not relevant to the case?

My0My
This case is about privacy. It’s difficult to take Meghan’s position seriously when she leaks info to the newspapers. That doesn’t seem like sensible actions for a “private” person.
This.
There is a difference between privacy and secrecy which MM hasn't grasped - it would be a perfectly sensible action for a "secret" person who wants total control over what's out there.

AN will try, I would have thought, to prove that she compromises her own privacy by leaking stories. They can ask very direct questions and expect answers. The 5 friends are already in the court papers. Omid S is already seen to have received her court papers. So she leaks info that suits her. They will argue by legal means, that this is not the actions of someone requiring privacy.

I’ve no idea how this will play out. The judge is hugely experienced. However it could be messy and then there is TM to factor in. He’s definitely a loose cannon.

In all court cases all parties are required to disclose all information they possess which is relevant to the issues in dispute. So, when AN says Meghan made the letter public via People magazine, and she says that all happened without her knowledge, that makes records of any contact (email, text, phone calls etc) between her, People and the five friends relevant, and she will have to disclose it (to the extent it exists, of course).

@meercat23 there was a famous case about Tom Jones in the 1970s when he tried to prevent stories about his sex drugs and rock and roll behaviour being published in the Mirror. He wasn’t successful - the court held that those who welcome and seek publicity bearing upon their private lives so long as it shows them in a positive light can’t really complain of an invasion of their privacy if it shows them in an unfavourable light. In other words, if you court publicity but only on your own terms, you live by the sword and die by the sword.

I wonder if MM spoke to her 5 friends before she took this legal route. I wonder if they are all happy that they make be named (still possible they will be at some point) or even called as witnesses.

I suspect the DM don't care if they win or lose, the amount of publicity and click bait they are getting for this case is priceless. And if they manage to prove that Omid is their preferred 'leak' well . . .

Meghan has been utterly foolish getting into this court case. There will be no winner other than the lawyers.

I know it's Meghan named in the papers but I do think Harry has to take responsibility for this too. I'd expect him to be more au fait with why the RF tries to avoid court cases against the media and to appreciate that the ones they do pursue are usually clear cut and have little opportunity for revelations or further embarrassment. Perhaps he doesn't remember the Paul Burrell case.

I think an unintended consequence of this case is that it might make H&M seem like a liability to the more famous/influential/serious circles that they wanted to move into. Those circles rely on discretion and carefully managed public images. They can't risk their personal correspondence somehow being dragged into court cases with the media.

Absolutely and this is something I’ve commented about before. Why would anyone want to risk this?

I know the judge has been very scathing about both sides but the DM doesn’t really have much of a reputation to worry about.

The friends have been absolutely stitched up by Meghan. Gone from having a word (I feel sure) with a media outlet giving her support, through to being dragged in to a nasty, high profile court case.

With the exception of a few notable people (including on this site ), I don't think she'll have a friend left!

Really?
They sound like loyal friends to me.

This explanation on the court case is interesting (particularly for me, as I don't know the case in such detail as others on here)

www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/celebs/a32465858/meghan-markle-lawsuit-thomas-markle-letter/

TM does not come out in a good light. My sympathies are with MM (surprise surprise )
Yes, I do know that she has opened a can of worms with this, but still...

Yy and I do feel sorry for them that none of this is going the way they hoped ie the move away; the website; the instagram; the charity foundation; the court case; the book.

The only hope is that all of this may have gone so badly that they decide to come back, take a posting somewhere quiet and secure (I'm sure they could have one of granny's Scottish castles/stately homes) and just enjoy family life for a while. They don't need to continue the Diana/Wallis/Edward trajectory. And they can blame it on Covid making them reassess what is important.

@Roussette if you are keen to know the details of the court case you could read the judgment as links have been posted. Or do you prefer searching articles until you find one that supports your point of view? In the mass media - which is not known for its accuracy.....

@AnneOfQueenSables

Yy and I do feel sorry for them that none of this is going the way they hoped ie the move away; the website; the instagram; the charity foundation; the court case; the book.

The only hope is that all of this may have gone so badly that they decide to come back, take a posting somewhere quiet and secure (I'm sure they could have one of granny's Scottish castles/stately homes) and just enjoy family life for a while. They don't need to continue the Diana/Wallis/Edward trajectory. And they can blame it on Covid making them reassess what is important.

I don't feel sorry for them - there are consequences for bad behaviour.

Having surrounded themselves by sycophants telling them how valuable they were, and not listening to advice, they truly believed they could be earn millions, and pop back to the UK for the odd balcony appearance, to give the Royal Family a bit of sparkle.

They are currently learning the truth - although I agree that Covid has made things even more difficult for them.

If I was Granny, I'd be holding on tight to my castles in Scotland and elsewhere, after all, she probably wouldn't get a thank you if she did give them one!