By KATIE KINDELAN, ABC News
(LONDON) — A leading paparazzi agency announced Wednesday that it will file for bankruptcy, and cited a legal battle with Duchess Meghan as one of the major reasons for its financial demise.
Splash News and Picture Agency, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, said in a statement that the U.K.-based agency’s ongoing legal battle with Meghan places “an unacceptable risk to the survival of the business.”
“If the legal action were to be successful, Splash would be liable to pay [Meghan’s] legal bills, which are sizable,” the statement read, in part. “Having tried unsuccessfully to reach a settlement with the duchess, this places an unacceptable risk to the survival of the business.”
Meghan sued Splash News for breach of privacy over photos taken of her and her then 8-month-old son Archie on Vancouver Island in February 2020.
Meghan and her husband, Prince Harry, and Archie were living in Canada at the time after announcing their decision to step down as senior, working members of Britain’s royal family.
In December, Splash News agreed not to take pictures of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and Archie, part of a settlement reached after Meghan’s lawyers filed a claim alleging Splash UK breached her privacy and data protection rights.
Harry and Meghan have continued on with a similar claim in the British court system against Splash US, a sister company to Splash UK. The next hearing in that case is scheduled for…
