Resolving The Competing Demands Of Confidentiality And Open Justice

The conflict between a claim for confidentiality and the open court or justice principle was recently considered by a Judge of the High Court of England and Wales.¹ The court resolved the competing demands concerning disclosing the names of journalistic sources in a dispute relating to letters written by Megan Markle.

Facts

The Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle, sued Associated Newspapers Limited for publishing articles In the Mail on Sunday and MailOnline. In the articles the defendant reported the contents of a letter that the plaintiff had written to her father and quoted extracts.

The defendant disputed the contents of the letter were private and confidential and denied that the plaintiff had a reasonable expectation it was or would remain private. The defendant said that the publication was made in pursuit of protecting the rights to freedom of expression of the defendant, its readers and Mr. Markle.