NataliaCatalina/iStockBy ZOE MAGEE, ABC News
(LONDON) — Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, scored a win Thursday in her legal battle with Associated Newspapers Ltd., the publishers of the Daily Mail and the Mail on Sunday.
High Court Justice Mark Warby agreed to Meghan’s lawyers’ request to postpone the trial, citing a “confidential” reason which was discussed in a private hearing Thursday morning.
The trial, which was scheduled to begin in January, is now expected to start one year from now, in October or November 2021.
“The right decision in all the circumstances is to grant the application to adjourn,” Warby said in court. “That means that the trial date of January 11 2021 will be vacated and the trial will be refixed for a new date in the autumn.”
Warby also on Thursday dismissed Meghan’s application for permission to appeal against a previous decision that Finding Freedom, a book about her and Prince Harry’s departure from official royal duties, could be included as evidence by the Mail On Sunday’s publisher.
Meghan is suing Associated Newspapers for alleged copyright infringement, misuse of private information and breach of the Data Protection Act after the Mail on Sunday and the Mail Online published parts of a handwritten letter she had sent to Thomas Markle in August 2018.
The letter, which addressed the breakdown in relations between Meghan and her now estranged father, was reproduced by Associated Newspapers in five articles in February 2019.
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