Mariah Carey Secures Major Legal Victory After Judge Tosses Brother's $20 Million Defamation Lawsuit

Mariah Carey can finally breathe easy as a legal battle with her family reaches a favourable conclusion for her.

The feud began when Mariah's older brother, Morgan Carey, sued her over claims she made in her 2020 memoir, The Meaning of Mariah Carey. He claimed the book damaged his reputation by tying him to drug dealing and portraying him as violent. He sought more than $20 million (£15 million) in damages from his sister.

After five years of legal turmoil, the courtroom saga seems to be reaching its conclusion as the case swings in Mariah's favour.

Mariah Carey Gets Brother's Defamation Lawsuit Against Her Dismissed

In a ruling by New York State Supreme Court Judge Leslie A. Stroth, the court found that Morgan failed to establish that Mariah acted 'with actual malice' by knowingly spreading falsehoods.

The court found that Morgan had not successfully pleaded actual malice on Mariah's part, citing New York anti-SLAPP laws. Morgan also failed to prove that his sister made statements based on information from unreliable sources or 'with knowledge of their falsity or with reckless disregard for the truth'.

Because of this, the court dismissed the case. Mariah's lawyer, John Rosenberg, provided a statement to the Daily Mail, saying, '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.'

Rosenberg said that Mariah recognised the decision was for the general protection of authors. However, Morgan's lawyer, Richard Altman, said their camp still plans to appeal the dismissal, 'respectfully' disagreeing with the decision and hinting that Mariah might not be out of the woods yet.

Mariah Carey Denied Brother Morgan's Misconduct Claims

The singer has pushed back against Morgan's accusations of misconduct throughout the proceedings. According to court documents, her legal team denied several of her brother's claims that she deliberately missed several deadlines to sit for a deposition and submit requested documents.

The documents revealed Mariah argued Morgan was using the threat of questioning under oath to gain an advantage in court, saying it was a 'misguided attempt to gain perceived tactical leverage in this action by threatening'.

She also blamed his 'repeated filing of meritless motions' for dragging the dispute on for so long, The Blast reported.

Mariah's attorney further denied that she refused to give a deposition, saying, 'Ms. Carey has never refused to appear for a deposition, nor has the court ever specifically ordered her to appear.'

Almost a year before Mariah's response, Morgan escalated the stakes by asking the court to amend his case, claiming that he had found 'false, disparaging, and defamatory' remarks that his sister made against him, some on YouTube.

Morgan argued that Mariah and her team failed to reach out to him in 2020, before the memoir's release, leaving him unable to dispute the claims before they went public.

He also took issue with an alarming claim in which Mariah alleged he had collected money from a woman in 1980 to kill her husband, although he eventually backed out. Morgan later testified that the woman committed the murder herself.

Mariah Carey Defends Her Memoir and Reflects on Familial Loss

Following his petition, Mariah defended the contents of her memoir. She maintained that what she had written was factual. She cited her mother's account of Morgan's involvement in drug dealing, an accusation supported by others familiar with his past.

Mariah also described Morgan as someone deeply involved in Manhattan nightlife, suggesting he may have used and provided cocaine to his associates.

Outside the courtroom, Mariah had been dealing with the grief of losing both her mother and sister on the same day, 24 August 2024.

'I don't know how I processed it; I just know that it was extremely difficult for me to navigate,' she admitted, saying that it was difficult because she had a complicated relationship with her mother and had been estranged from her sister. In her book, she described it as 'a prickly rope of pride, pain, shame, gratitude, jealousy, admiration, and disappointment.'

Despite not being able to say goodbye to her sister, she was able to spend her mother's final days with her, which gave her some comfort.