Meghan Markle urges summary judgement in privacy claim without full trial

Meghan Markle has requested a summary judgement in her privacy claim against a British tabloid for publishing a private letter she wrote to her father, Thomas Markle.

Lawyers for the Duchess of Sussex had previously filed an application for a summary judgement in October, when the 10-day trial in a UK court originally scheduled to start on January 11 was postponed by several months over some "confidential matter." A summary judgement means there will be no trial and instead the judge will make a ruling based on the cases submitted on paper by the two sides without taking any witnesses or further evidence into account.

A source close to the "Suits" alum had said back then: "We do not believe that the defence's case has a chance of succeeding, and do not believe there is a compelling reason for trial. We are confident in our case and therefore believe it should be determined on a summary basis."

The lawyers recently reiterated their demand for a judgement without proceeding to a full trial. The team told Mr. Justice Warby that the letter was "intrinsically private, personal and sensitive" and was never intended to be made public, reports Mail Online.

Justin Rushbrooke QC, for the duchess, said the publication of extracts from the letter was a "triple-barrelled" assault on her "private life, her family life and her correspondence." He also noted that the letter had outlined the Duchess's "constant love" for her father Thomas Markle and her fears for his health.

Meanwhile, the defence is arguing that the former American actress expected the letter to become public, and effectively breached her own privacy by allowing her friends to speak to a US magazine to present her side of the story. They also claimed "inconsistencies" in Meghan's account of how she came to write the letter shortly after her marriage to Prince Harry.

The lawyers for the newspaper also argue that she consulted Jason Knauf, Kensington Palace's director of communications, about her letter because she expected it to become public. However, Meghan has always insisted that she wrote the "deeply painful" letter herself and only showed her husband and Knauf the draft.