Mariah Carey Wins Dismissal of Her Brother’s Defamation Lawsuit Over The Meaning of Mariah Carey

Mariah Carey has won a five-year legal fight with her brother. On Monday (Oct. 19), New York State Supreme Court Justice Leslie A. Stroth dismissed Morgan Carey’s remaining defamation claims over The Meaning of Mariah Carey, her bestselling 2020 memoir, in an order first reported by Billboard. The judge found that Morgan failed to establish that his sister acted with “actual malice,” Rolling Stone reports.

Under New York’s anti-SLAPP law, Rolling Stone explains, a plaintiff must show that a defendant made a false statement knowing it was false or with reckless disregard for the truth. “The Court finds that Plaintiff has not sufficiently pleaded actual malice on the part of Defendant,” Stroth wrote, per Billboard. He continued:

Plaintiff has alleged that Defendant was more concerned with the ‘commercial viability’ of her memoir than verifying the truth of her statements, and that Defendant’s sources for such statements are anonymous and/or unverifiable. Notably, Plaintiff fails to provide any proof that Defendant made such statements with knowledge of their falsity or with reckless disregard for the truth.

Justice Leslie A. Stroth, in the Oct. 19 ruling, Billboard

Morgan sued on May 28, 2021, a few months after the memoir reached No. 1 on the New York Times bestseller list. He said the book damaged his “excellent and spotless reputation” by portraying him as violent, suggesting he had sold cocaine and describing “behavioral problems” in his childhood, and said his damages were “believed to exceed $20 million,” per Rolling Stone.

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The case has taken a long road to this ruling. In 2022, Judge Barbara Jaffe dismissed many of the eight passages Morgan challenged but let two proceed, Billboard reports: one saying he sold “powdered party favors” to clubgoers in the 1980s, and another saying he had “been in the system.” Jaffe later retired, the case moved to Stroth, and Morgan reasserted many of his dismissed claims in an amended complaint. Stroth focused on actual malice, which hadn’t been the focus of Carey’s first motion to dismiss, and decided the failure doomed the entire case.

Carey’s lawyer, John Rosenberg, told Billboard:

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.

John Rosenberg, attorney for Mariah Carey, Billboard

Rosenberg added that Carey “believes the importance of the Court’s decision goes well beyond her own interests in this particular litigation,” and that the ruling “confirms that authors must be afforded broad protection when they speak out on matters of public concern.”

It is a notable day for Carey on the charts, too: Ella Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas” just tied her holiday classic for the most weeks at No. 1 on Streaming Songs.

Morgan’s side isn’t done. His lawyer, Richard Altman, told Rolling Stone in an email, “We respectfully disagree with today’s decision as being completely inconsistent with prior rulings in the case.” He added, “We intend to appeal it very soon.”