London (CNN Business) The Mail on Sunday has secured an early win in a lawsuit filed by Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, over the British tabloid's publication of a private letter she sent to her father ahead of her wedding to Prince Harry. Following an application by the paper's parent company, Associated Newspapers, the High Court in London handed down a pre-trial ruling Friday that some of the evidence presented by Meghan's legal team, including a series of negative articles about the Duchess in the Mail, could not be included in the trial. As a result, the court will not be required to determine whether the Mail on Sunday acted dishonestly, deliberately stirred up conflict between the Duchess and her father Thomas Markle, or pursued a deliberate agenda of publishing offensive or intrusive articles about the Duchess. The case will focus solely on the claims that the Mail on Sunday infringed on Meghan's privacy, breached copyright and violated data protection laws. A spokesperson for the Duchess' lawyers said in a statement that the ruling does not change the "core elements of the case."

Source: CNN May 01, 2020 12:45 UTC