The defamation lawsuit against Meghan Markle, brought about by her half-sister Samantha Markle, has been dismissed.
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In the case, Samantha, 59, claimed that the Duchess of Sussex defamed her in multiple interviews, including her 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey, seeking $75,000 from her sister.
The U.S. District Attorney Judge Charlene Honeywell filed a motion to dismiss the case with prejudice, citing that Samantha failed to produce statements to support her claim.
Judge Honeywell wrote that Samantha’s allegations “suggest” that Samantha “disagrees” with her sister’s “opinions” rather than her claims being “statement of fact”.
The Duchess of Sussex’s attorney, Michael J Kump, said they “are pleased with the court’s ruling dismissing the case,” as reported by PEOPLE.
In the original lawsuit, Samantha said Meghan made “demonstrably false and malicious statements … to a worldwide audience [of] roughly 50 million people in 17 countries” during her 2021 TV sit-down with Oprah Winfrey.
One of the statements Samantha included in her case was Meghan’s comment that she “grew up as an only child”.
The judge at the time, in March 2023, said that this statement was not falsifiable as it was a protected opinion, ruling that Samantha would not be able to sue Meghan.
When the Netflix documentary Harry & Meghan debuted on Netflix in December 2022, Samantha took issue with another of her sister’s claims.
In the doc, Meghan said that while she was not close to her half-sister, she was close to her daughter Ashleigh – but that the Palace discouraged her attendance at the duke and duchess’ royal wedding due to Meghan’s strained relationship with Samantha.
“I found out that the royals did not say that, Meghan said that,” Samantha claimed on the morning show Sunrise, with Nat Barr and Matt Shirvington.
“Meghan then lied to my daughter and made my daughter feel like there was something wrong with me that prevented her from going to the wedding.”
