Morgan Carey’s $20 million defamation lawsuit against his sister Mariah Carey has been dismissed. A New York judge ruled Monday, October 19, that Morgan failed to sufficiently plead actual malice, the standard required for defamation claims against a public figure. The suit, filed in 2021, centered on Mariah’s 2020 memoir The Meaning of Mariah Carey, which referenced“powdered party favors”and claimed Morgan served prison time.
Mariah’s attorney John Rosenberg said the court recognized the memoir addresses issues of public interest and dismissed the claims entirely. Morgan’s lawyer Richard Altman said the siblings respectfully disagree with the decision and intend to appeal soon.
The case highlights how high the legal bar is for public figures suing over defamation, and it raises bigger questions about family memoirs and how far authors can go when writing about relatives. Mariah, 57, is the youngest of three siblings; her mother Patricia and sister Alison died in 2024. Do you think family memoirs should have limits, or is everything fair game?
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Local Lawton
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