Judge Tosses Most Of Defamation Lawsuit Filed By Mariah Carey’s Brother Over Her Memoir

The older brother of singer Mariah Carey faced a legal setback Tuesday when a judge in New York dismissed most of his defamation lawsuit against passages in her 2020 memoir, but he still has legal grounds to sue over two claims in the book.

Morgan Carey listed nine passages in his sister’s memoir The Meaning of Mariah Carey that he said were defamatory, including claims he distributed cocaine and got in a fight with their father that resulted in a police call. Justice Barbara Jaffe of the New York Supreme Court upheld his suit only for the cocaine passage, and another that implied Morgan has served prison time.

Jaffe dismissed the other seven parts of the suit because Morgan did not adequately show he suffered “special damages” in his reputation resulting from the memoir. She also pushed back against the accusation that the publishers of the memoir published these passages despite having doubts about them being true.

Mariah Carey’s memoir was published through Macmillan and Andy Cohen Books, yes that Andy Cohen and the publishers are also listed as plaintiffs. The memoir was well-received critically and featured reflections on her childhood, career and relationships primarily before 2001.