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Melania Trump wins payout and apology from U.K.’s Daily Mail
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Melania Trump sued Daily Mail over modelling career allegations. (shutterstock.com/a katz/File)
F
irst Lady Melania Trump won a payout and apology from the Daily Mail tabloid newspaper, settling U.K and U.S. lawsuits over false allegations that hurt her “personal integrity and dignity”
The August 2016 article entitled "Racy photos and troubling questions about his wife’s past that could derail Trump" contained untrue allegations "which questioned the nature of her work as a model, and republished allegations that she provided services beyond simply modeling," her lawyer, John Kelly, said reading a statement in a London court Wednesday. "The allegations "strike at the heart of the claimant’s personal integrity and dignity," he said.
The First Lady is understood to have won a payout close to $3 million, according to a person familiar with the settlement, who asked not to be named because the amount isn’t public. The Guardian newspaper reported the damages figure earlier.
President Donald Trump’s spouse filed a suit against the British newspaper in the U.S. for $150 million alleging the article caused "tremendous harm" to her reputation and making it almost impossible to take advantage of “major business opportunities” available “for a multi-year term during which plaintiff is one of the most photographed women in the world.”
Read also: Melania Trump begins to embrace new role as first lady
The payout represents a large settlement by U.K. standards. The British system differs to the U.S. where libel compensation can be punitive and run into the hundreds of millions of dollars. Penalties in the U.K. have rarely exceeded 200,000 pounds ($250,000) for the most serious cases in recent years. A former U.K. politician wrongly named on Twitter as a pedophile after a false report by the British Broadcasting Corp. was paid 185,000 pounds in 2012.
"The defendant acknowledges that these claims about the claimant are untrue, and we retract and withdraw them," Catrin Evans, a lawyer for Associated Newspapers, said in court. Associated Newspapers is owned by Daily Mail & General Trust Plc.
The tabloid published an apology on its website after the court hearing, saying “We apologize to Mrs. Trump for any distress that our publication caused her.” The statements, apologies and payouts settle both the U.K. and U.S suits.
