A British newspaper publisher has been accused of commercially exploiting its legal dispute with Meghan Markle.
According to a lawyer the Duchess of Sussex the newspaper is using court documents as the basis for “sensational” coverage.
The wife of Prince Harry is suing publisher Associated Newspapers over articles the Mail on Sunday printed last year that included parts of a handwritten letter she sent to her father, Thomas Markle, in August 2018.
Lawyer Justin Rushbrooke said that within hours of the legal papers being filed, the Mail used them as the basis for what he described as a long and sensational article on its website, which in turn “started a wildfire” of media coverage.
“Other litigants don’t make commercial fodder out of the other side’s pleadings,” he said, arguing such practices made it all the more important that the privacy of Meghan’s friends be protected by a court order.
In her witness statement, Meghan said “for the Mail on Sunday to expose them in the public domain for no reason other than clickbait and commercial gain is vicious and poses a threat to their emotional and mental wellbeing”.