Meghan Markle’s half-sister Samantha is not giving up her defamation case without a fight after her lawyers appealed 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 “failed to identify statements that could support a defamation claim.”
The comments were in reference 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 Newsweek.
“Notice is hereby given that the plaintiff, Samantha M. Markle, by and through her undersigned counsel, appeals the Order Granting Defendants, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, Motion to Dismiss to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit filed by the Honorable Charlene Edwards Honeywell on March 12, 2024,” the document said.
A judge dismissed the defamation suit against her sister Meghan in March. Samantha sought 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 ceremony in 2008. Samantha, 59, has accused her famous sister of defamation, implying that Meghan suggested to Oprah that she had grown up as an only child
The March decision spared Meghan, 42, from a trial scheduled for November in court in Tampa.
Samantha, 59, is seeking at least $75,000 for libel and slander by implication because Meghan suggested to Oprah that she grew up as an only child.
Meghan also said that Samantha only changed her name back 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 were “substantially true on the evidence noted by the judge” or “could not be considered defamatory.”
Samantha had failed to “plausibly allege that they were defamatory in the first place”, the judge said.
The judge noted that Meghan’s comments about her childhood were “merely her opinion” 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 “suggested (she) was a liar and fame seeker” was an “inappropriate mischaracterization” of what the Duchess said.
As for Meghan’s statement that Samantha changed her name from Rasmussen, her married name, back to Markle after the duchess started dating Harry, the judge said “the essence was true.”
She wrote: “That Plaintiff used one surname and then the name Markle shortly after reports of Defendant’s relationship with Prince Harry were published is substantially true, based on the evidence in the record, of which the court has heard.”
One of the statements in Samantha’s claim was from Harry in the Netflix series where he said: ‘Perhaps the most disturbing part of this is the number of British journalists who are interacting with and amplifying the hate and lies.’
But Judge Honeywell said: “The inclusion of this statement in the complaint is baffling and indicates haste, a misunderstanding of the law or a lack of due diligence on the part of plaintiff’s counsel.
“It is unclear how this statement could be defamatory of the claimant as it does not refer to her.”
In her conclusion, Judge Honeywell wrote: “Plaintiff’s claims will be dismissed with prejudice as she has failed at this point, her third attempt to amend her complaint, to identify any statements that would support a claim for defamation or implied libel could support. in the book Finding Freedom, the Netflix series Harry & Meghan, or the CBS interview of the suspect and her husband that was broadcast on television for an hour.
The case was originally filed in March 2022 and in legal documents, Samantha explained in detail how she was “very close” to Meghan when they were growing up in Los Angeles.
Samantha helped Meghan with her homework, delivered her groceries and had a “great relationship” with her, it was claimed.
But when Meghan started to rise to fame in the TV series Suits, she ‘ran out of time’ for Samantha and they stopped visiting each other in 2016, it was claimed.
The lawsuit alleged that as soon as Meghan met Harry, she became “hostile” toward Samantha and the rest of her family.
The “defining moment” of Meghan’s “unwarranted hostility” towards Meghan happened in 2017, when the Duchess “immediately hung up the phone” when she heard Samantha’s voice.
Samantha called back, but “to this day, Meghan has never answered Samantha’s call,” she claimed.
Since then, Meghan has “belligerently attempted to defame Samantha and other family members,” the lawsuit said.
Meghan’s method is to “end friendships rather than save them, and to allow her to become hostile,” the lawsuit alleges.
Before her wedding in 2018, Meghan and Samantha’s father Thomas Sr suffered two heart attacks, but instead of showing him “mercy and compassion, she effectively ended her relationship.”
Thomas Sr. was caught posing for photos at a paparazzi agency and Meghan has publicly claimed she didn’t believe he was telling her the truth.
It is then alleged that Meghan “began her smear campaign and a continuing barrage of distorted facts and stories, complete with false quotes about and ‘by’ Samantha.”
The lawsuit even claims that Meghan “encouraged hatred of Samantha through a bot network that caused great harm to Samantha.”
Samantha and Meghan have had a difficult relationship for years, which came into the public eye after Meghan’s engagement to Harry was announced in 2017.
Samantha was quoted by journalists as saying that ‘the Queen would be shocked’ and calling her a ‘ducha**’ on Twitter.
In her memoir, titled ‘The Diary of Princess Pushy’s Sister’, Samantha claimed Meghan ordered their father to disown his children from his first marriage if he wanted an invite to her wedding.
According to the book, Meghan told Thomas Sr to separate from her and her brother Thomas, saying, “You don’t need them!”
Thomas Sr refused, supposedly saying, “I love you all equally,” to which Meghan replied, “Why can’t you just obey?”