Meghan Markle’s half-sister Samantha is not giving up her defamation case without a fight after her lawyers filed an appeal against a judge’s ruling that dismissed the lawsuit in March.
Last month, Florida Judge Charlene Edwards Honeywell said the case should be dismissed because Samantha “did not identify any statements that could support a defamation claim.”
The comments were related to Prince Harry and Meghan’s infamous 2021 interview with American talk show host Oprah Winfrey.
The lawsuit was dismissed with prejudice, meaning it cannot simply be refiled.
However, Samantha’s team is trying to overturn that decision, according to a new legal filing seen by News week.
‘Notice is hereby given that plaintiff, Samantha M. Markle, by and through her undersigned attorney, appeals to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit against the order granting defendants, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, a motion to dismiss filed. by the Honorable Charlene Edwards Honeywell on March 12, 2024,” the document reads.
A judge dismissed Samantha Markle’s defamation lawsuit against her sister Meghan in March. Samantha was seeking damages in excess of $75,000.
The March decision saved the Sussexes, pictured here at the recent NAACP Awards, from a trial in Florida that was set to begin in November 2024.
Pictured: Meghan Markle at Samantha’s graduation in 2008. Samantha, 59, accused her famous sister of defamation over the implication of Meghan suggesting to Oprah that she grew up an only child.
The March decision saved Meghan, 42, from a trial in Tampa court in November.
Samantha, 59, has been seeking at least $75,000 for defamation and defamation by implication because Meghan suggested to Oprah that she grew up an only child.
Meghan also said that Samantha only changed her name to Markle after she started dating Harry.
According to Samantha, Meghan made similar claims in the Netflix series and the accusations subjected her to “humiliation, shame and hatred on a global scale.”
In her 58-page ruling, Judge Honeywell said Meghan’s statements could not be defamatory because they are “substantially true based on judicially recognized evidence” or “they cannot be considered defamatory.”
Samantha had not “plausibly alleged that they are defamatory in the first place”, the judge said.
The judge noted that Meghan’s comments about her childhood were “simply opining” that she did not have a close relationship with Samantha, her half-sister with whom she shares a father.
Judge Honeywell said Samantha’s claim that Meghan “implied that (she) was a liar and a fame-seeker” was an “inappropriate mischaracterization” of what the duchess said.
As for Meghan’s claim that Samantha changed her name from Rasmussen, her married name, to Markle after the duchess began dating Harry, the judge said “the substance was true.”
She wrote: “That the plaintiff used a surname and then the name Markle shortly after reports about the defendant’s relationship with Prince Harry were published is substantially true, based on the evidence in the record, of which the Court has been made aware. judicial”.
Among Samantha’s statements was one from Harry in the Netflix series in which he said: “Perhaps the most worrying part of this is the number of British journalists engaging with and amplifying hate and lies.”
But Judge Honeywell said: “The fact that this statement was included in the complaint is puzzling and suggests haste, a misunderstanding of the law or a lack of diligence on the part of the plaintiff’s attorney.”
“It is not clear how this statement could be defamatory towards the plaintiff, as it does not refer to her.”
In her conclusion, Judge Honeywell wrote: ‘Plaintiff’s claims will be dismissed with prejudice as she has not identified any statements that could support a claim for defamation or defamation by implication at this point, her third attempt to amend her complaint. . whether in the book Finding Freedom, the Netflix series Harry & Meghan, or the hour-long CBS televised interview between the accused and her husband.
The case was originally filed in March 2022 and in legal documents, Samantha detailed how she was “very close” to Meghan when they were growing up in Los Angeles.
Samantha helped Meghan with her homework, took her shopping and had a “wonderful relationship” with her, it was claimed.
But once Meghan began to become famous on the TV series Suits, she “no longer had time” for Samantha and by 2016 they had stopped visiting each other, it was claimed.
The lawsuit claimed that once Meghan met Harry, she became “hostile” toward Samantha and the rest of her family.
The “defining moment” of Meghan’s “unwarranted hostility” toward Meghan occurred in 2017 when the Duchess allegedly “immediately hung up the phone” upon hearing Samantha’s voice.
Samantha called again, but “to this day, Meghan has never returned Samantha’s phone call,” he said.
Since then, Meghan has “belligerently attempted to defame Samantha and other family members,” the lawsuit claims.
Meghan’s method is to “end friendships, rather than save them, and become hostile,” the suit claims.
Before their wedding in 2018, Meghan and Samantha’s father, Thomas Sr, suffered two heart attacks, but instead of showing him “grace and compassion, she effectively ended their relationship.”
Thomas Sr. had been caught posing for photographs with a paparazzi agency and Meghan publicly stated that she did not believe he was telling her the truth.
After that, Meghan allegedly “began her smear campaign and a continuous avalanche of distorted facts and stories, with false quotes about and ‘by’ Samantha.”
The lawsuit even claims that Meghan has “fostered hatred toward Samantha through a botnet that caused her great harm.”
Samantha and Meghan have had a rocky relationship for years that exploded into public view after Meghan’s engagement to Harry was announced in 2017.
Samantha was quoted by journalists as saying “The Queen would be appalled” and called her a “shower a**” on Twitter.
In her memoir, titled ‘Princess Pushy’s Sister’s Diary’, Samantha claimed that Meghan ordered her father to disown her children from his first marriage if she wanted an invitation to her wedding.
According to the book, Meghan told Thomas Sr. to divorce her and her brother Thomas, saying, “You don’t need them!”
Thomas Sr refused and allegedly said: “I love you all equally,” to which Meghan responded: “Why can’t you just comply?”