Meghan Markle’s sister loses court case against her over alleged defamation
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Samantha Markle has lost a lawsuit against Meghan Markle as a court ruled she “failed to identify any statements that could support a claim for defamation or defamation-by-implication” against the Duchess of Sussex, wife of Prince Harry.
A court in the United States dismissed the defamation case brought against Meghan by Samantha her half sister, born of the same father but of different mothers.
Samantha, 59, has been a torn in the flesh of Meghan, 42, since the lid blew on her relationship with Harry in 2016, fuelling attacks from the British media against Meghan for the mere fact she is biracial.
The elder sister has even accused her younger sister of depriving her of a means of livelihood and of failing to provide for her, one of her bizarre ways of getting media attention cashing in on her younger sister’s fame.
Samantha took the legal action against Meghan over comments she made to Oprah Winfrey and on her Netflix show, Harry And Meghan.
She will not be able to refile the case, after Florida Judge Charlene Edwards Honeywell dismissed it with prejudice.
Sky News reports the judge, ruling in favour of the former Suits actress, said in a 58-page decision that the plaintiff had “failed to identify any statements that could support a claim for defamation or defamation-by-implication”.
Meghan’s lawyer Michael J Kump, said: “We are pleased with the court’s ruling dismissing the case.”
Samantha claimed the couple’s comments during the high-profile tell-all interview with Winfrey in 2021 were “demonstrably false and malicious lies”.
The duchess said to Oprah she grew up as an only child, and also said her sister changed her surname back to Markle after she began a relationship with Harry.
The judge ruled Meghan’s statements could not be defamatory because they were either an opinion, “substantially true based on judicially noticed evidence”, or “not capable of being considered defamatory.
“That Plaintiff used one last name and then the name Markle soon after reports of [the] defendant’s relationship with Prince Harry were published is substantially true, based on the exhibits in the record, of which the court has taken judicial notice, and the court cannot reasonably infer otherwise.”
Samantha first brought a defamation case against her younger sister in March 2022, alleging Meghan had defamed her by giving information to an unauthorised biography called Finding Freedom and by discussing their relationship with Winfrey on live television.
That case was also thrown out last year, after the judge found the duchess could not be liable for the contents of the book because she did not publish it.
Meghan has not spoken to her half-sister since 2014, according to Samantha.
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