Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK, Reuters – Mariah Carey’s brother dismissed the majority of a lawsuit for defamation against her over her best-selling memoir 2020. However, two more claims must be brought against Mariah.

Justice Barbara Jaffe, Manhattan’s state Supreme Court judge, ruled Tuesday that Morgan Carey could sue his sister for passages suggesting that he had distributed cocaine to “the lovely people” and implied that he may have been “in-the system” — in prison — as a result of a serious offense.

The judge rejected claims about seven passages in “The Meaning Of Mariah Carey,” which included one that discussed a fight between Morgan Carey’s father and Careys’ mother. This required intervention by police.

Jaffe claimed that although the passage in question “reasonably draws a defamatory conclusion that plaintiff was abusive to his family”, Morgan Carey who is more than a decade younger than his sister failed to demonstrate that he had suffered “special damages” due to damage to his reputation.

A judge dismissed all claims against the publishers of the memoir, saying that it was unclear how Mariah Carey “alleged vindictiveness”, which showed they knew or seriously doubted the authenticity of the passages in question, wasn’t clear.

Morgan Carey lawyers and publishers did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday. Mariah Carey lawyers didn’t immediately reply to our requests for comment.

Mariah Carey, 51 years old, wrote about her dysfunctional childhood in poverty and the early struggles of her career.

The co-author of the memoir, Andy Cohen Books (an imprint named after the Bravo producer) were also among those defendants.

Carey v Carey et al., New York State Supreme Court. New York County. 152192/2021.