A judge threw out the long-running trial on Monday
Mariah Carey has won a five-year legal battle with her brother, winning the dismissal of his latest allegations that she defamed him in her bestselling 2020 memoir, The meaning of Mariah Carey.
In a judgment rendered Monday and obtained by rolling stoneJustice Leslie A. Stroth of New York State Supreme Court ruled that Morgan Carey failed to establish that his superstar sister acted with “actual malice” in making the statements he disputed.
Morgan claimed in his lawsuit that his sister damaged his “excellent and impeccable reputation” by describing him as violent, accusing him of trafficking “powder gifts” (a reference to cocaine) and describing him as having “behavioral problems” as a child. He claimed that Mariah had relied on their late mother as a source for some of the material and was more concerned with the commercial success of the memoir than with verifying the accuracy of her claims. He said his damages “would be in excess of $20 million.”
But the judge ruled that Morgan could not establish actual malice simply by highlighting the deterioration of his relationship with his famous brother. Under New York’s anti-SLAPP statute, a plaintiff must demonstrate that a defendant made a false statement with knowledge that it was false or with reckless disregard for the truth.
“Plaintiff has not adequately pleaded actual malice on the part of (Mariah),” Judge Stroth wrote. “Plaintiff fails to provide evidence that (Mariah) made such statements with knowledge of their falsity or with reckless disregard for their falsity or with reckless disregard for the truth. Although Plaintiff alleges that (Mariah) displayed ill will toward her brother, such a statement is insufficient and Plaintiff has not satisfied the plea requirements of actual malice.”
In a statement to rolling stoneMariah’s lawyer, John Rosenberg, said the singer “is pleased that the court recognized that her memoir addresses important issues of public interest and rejected her brother’s defamation allegations in their entirety.”
Rosenberg said the Grammy-winning star “believes that the importance of the court’s decision goes far beyond its own interests in this particular litigation, because it confirms that authors should be afforded broad protection when speaking out on matters of public interest.”
Morgan first filed his complaint on May 28, 2021. His lawyer says rolling stone the fight is not over. “We respectfully disagree with today’s decision because it is completely inconsistent with prior decisions in this case,” attorney Richard Altman said in an email. “We intend to appeal very soon.”
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