Mariah Carey has scored a major win in a family feud that has played out in court for more than five years. On Monday, October 19, a New York judge dismissed the remaining defamation claims brought by her older brother, Morgan Carey, over what she wrote about him in her bestselling 2020 memoir, The Meaning of Mariah Carey.

The fight may not be completely over, though. Morgan’s lawyer says an appeal is coming. Here’s a breakdown of the case, the ruling and what happens next.

What the lawsuit claimed

Morgan Carey first filed his lawsuit on May 28, 2021, months after the memoir hit shelves. According to Rolling Stone, he argued that his sister had damaged his otherwise “excellent and spotless reputation” by portraying him as violent, describing him as having “behavioral problems” during childhood, and suggesting he trafficked “powdered party favors,” a reference to cocaine.

He also claimed Mariah relied on their late mother as a source for some of the material and was more focused on the book’s commercial success than on checking whether the stories were accurate. Morgan said his damages were “believed to exceed $20 million.”

At the time of filing, the complaint struck an unusually emotional tone for a legal document. As TheWrap recalled, it said Morgan brought the action “more in sorrow and disappointment in his sister’s betrayals and malicious falsehoods than in anger at them,” and insisted he was not envious of her success and had “always wished her well.”

What the judge decided

The ruling came from Justice Leslie A. Stroth of the New York State Supreme Court. The key issue was “actual malice,” the legal standard that applies in cases like this one. Under New York’s anti-SLAPP law, as Rolling Stone explained, a plaintiff has to show that the defendant made a false statement knowing it was false, or with reckless disregard for whether it was true.

Justice Stroth found that Morgan didn’t clear that bar. “Plaintiff has not sufficiently pleaded actual malice on the part of [Mariah],” she wrote. “While plaintiff alleges that [Mariah] demonstrates ill will towards her brother, such statement is insufficient, and plaintiff has not satisfied the pleading requirement for actual malice.”

In other words, a strained relationship between siblings, however bitter, was not enough on its own to prove the legal standard the case required.

How both sides responded

Mariah’s camp welcomed the decision. Her lawyer, John Rosenberg, told Rolling Stone that the singer “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 added that she “believes the importance of the court’s decision goes well beyond her own interests in this particular litigation, as it confirms that authors must be afforded broad protection when they speak out on matters of public concern.”

Morgan’s side sees it very differently. His attorney, Richard Altman, told Rolling Stone: “We respectfully disagree with today’s decision as being completely inconsistent with prior rulings in the case. We intend to appeal it very soon.”

Why this case got so much attention

The Meaning of Mariah Carey was one of the most talked-about celebrity memoirs of 2020. In it, the “All I Want for Christmas Is You” singer opened up about a difficult childhood and complicated relationships with members of her family, which is exactly what made it so compelling to fans and so painful for some relatives.

The case also touches on a question that matters well beyond pop music: how much freedom do memoir writers have to tell their own life stories when those stories involve other people? Mariah’s legal team clearly sees the ruling as a win for authors on that front. Morgan’s appeal, if it goes forward, will test whether a higher court agrees.

The bottom line

For now, Mariah Carey walks away the winner of a legal fight that has dragged on since 2021, with a judge ruling that her brother failed to show she acted with actual malice. But with Morgan’s lawyer promising a quick appeal, this family drama may have at least one more chapter. We’ll be watching for the next filing.

Image: Courtroom One Gavel by Joe Gratz via Flickr, CC0 1.0