Alleging she defamed her brother, Mariah Carey has defeated the long-running lawsuit.
In the October 19 court order, a judge ruled that the superstar’s sibling Morgan Carey had not met the requirements to sue his sister over passages in her bestselling 2020 memoir, The Meaning of Mariah Carey, that suggested her brother had sold cocaine and done prison time.
According to New York law, a defamation lawsuit against a public figure must feature “actual malice”, meaning they lied with the intent to cause harm.
“The Court finds that Plaintiff has not sufficiently pleaded actual malice on the part of Defendant.” “Plaintiff has alleged that Defendant was more concerned with the ‘commercial viability’ of her memoir than verifying the truth of her statements. Notably, Plaintiff fails to provide any proof that Defendant made such statements with knowledge of their falsity or with reckless disregard for the truth,” wrote Judge Leslie A Stroth.
Dismissing the case completely, the magistrate ruled the lawsuit cannot move forward without meeting the actual malice standard.
In an interview with Billboard, Mariah’s lawyer said “Ms Carey is gratified that the Court recognized that her memoir addresses significant issues of public interest and dismissed her brother’s defamation claims in their entirety.”
Several months after The Meaning of Mariah Carey hit #1 on the New York Times bestseller list, Morgan sued Mariah in 2021, and the case has been lingering in litigation ever since.
About the decision, Morgan’s lawyer announced that he plans to appeal the dismissal, adding “We respectfully disagree with today’s decision as being inconsistent with prior rulings in the case.”
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Author: Al Dente
Photo: Filipe Vicente / Setor VIP