Meghan Markle wins defamation lawsuit filed by half-sister Samantha

Last Modified: 13th Mar

Meghan Markle has claimed legal victory in the defamation lawsuit filed against her by Samantha Markle.

On Tuesday, the judge dismissed the lawsuit filed against the Duchess of Sussex. In addition, Markle was granted prejudice over the case – meaning Samantha cannot level her claim again in the future.

The court documents stated that Samantha “failed to identify any statements that could support a claim for defamation or defamation-by-implication by this point, her third try at amending her complaint…”

Samantha Marle had claimed defamation over Meghan and Prince Harry’s Netflix docuseries, Meghan & Harry or Omid Scobie’s Finding Freedom, and in an hour-long interview with Oprah Winfrey which aired in March 2021.

Florida District Court Judge Charlene Edwards Honeywell concluded that Samantha supplied “mischaracterizations of the [interview] transcript.” She also determined the statement of their father Thomas Markle and Samantha, 59, were in fact “quintessential examples of opinion.”

Meghan and Thomas Markle (Souce: Channel 5)

In March 2022, Samantha had sued her half-sister, Meghan Markle, 42. She had alleged the Duchess had made “false and malicious statements” on Winfrey’s show, accused of her claiming to be “an only child” and also accused her of lying about the timeframe of when they last saw each other. Samantha also cited Meghan for publicly criticizing Thomas in order to sell the world a false “rags-to-royalty” narrative.

Samantha was seeking $75,000 in damages and cover the cost of court and attorney’s fees.

Meghan Markle, Prince Harry (Source: Getty Images)

In response, Meghan had called the defamation lawsuit meritless.

Meghan’s legal statement read at the time, “We do not empanel juries to rule on whether two people are ‘close,’ or whether one genuinely feels that they ‘grew up as an only child. Courts are not equipped to adjudicate the legitimacy of a person’s feelings about their childhood and relationships. Nor should they be.”

The lawyer of the Dutchess also told TMZ that the suit was “baseless and absurd” and “a continuation of a pattern of disturbing behavior.”

“We will give it the minimum attention necessary, which is all it deserves,” he said at the time.

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