Meghan Markle to get £1 payout in UK privacy case

Associated Newspapers was also ordered to pay Meghan Markle's (above, with husband Prince Harry) legal costs. PHOTO: REUTERS

LONDON (BLOOMBERG) - Meghan Markle will be paid £1 (S$1.80) by a British tabloid after a judge ruled that the newspaper breached her privacy when it published excerpts of a letter she wrote to her father.

Mail on Sunday publisher Associated Newspapers was also ordered by a London judge to pay the Duchess of Sussex a confidential sum for copyright infringement, a court order said.

The "nominal damages" of £1 were for misuse of private information, according to documents filed at a London court in December.

Judges dismissed the publisher's appeal last month to fight the decision preventing the case from going to trial.

When the case was won, Markle's team had the right to choose whether the financial remedy would be in the form of damages or an account of profits from the Mail on Sunday. They chose the latter, a spokesman for the Duchess said.

Associated Newspapers was also ordered to pay Markle's legal costs and put £300,000 on account for the Duchess by Jan 7.

RPC, the law firm representing Associated Papers, declined to comment.

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