A Florida district court judge has thrown out Samantha Markle's third attempt to sue her half-sister for defamation.
A Florida district court judge has permanently dismissed Samantha Markle's defamation lawsuit against her half-sister, Meghan Markle. The case was dismissed with prejudice after Samantha failed to produce statements that could support a claim for defamation.
In court documents obtained by ET, United States District Judge Charlene Honeywell in the Middle District of Florida ruled in favor of Meghan, throwing out the case in an order, stating, "The Court grants the motion to dismiss, in full. [Samantha Markle's] claims will be dismissed with prejudice, as she has 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, in either the book Finding Freedom, the Netflix series Harry & Meghan, or [Meghan Markle] and her husband's hour-long televised CBS Interview. As such, the Third Amended Complaint will be dismissed, with prejudice."
Meghan's attorney, Michael J. Kump, says in a statement, "We are pleased with the Court's ruling dismissing the case."
Samantha's attorney, Peter Ticktin, says in a statement, "At the hearing on the Motion to Dismiss, we thought that the judge understood our arguments. Her questions seemed to show an understanding, and her comments to start to get moving on discovery made no sense if she was going to dismiss. She asked whether certain points were in the Complaint, and that showed that she understood our arguments. Unfortunately, it now appears that our logic was missed by the judge."
"Of course, this is very upsetting. We were concerned that this could happen when we moved to disqualify Judge Honeywell but to be frank, there is no indication that she was biased, except that her decision is wrong," the statement continues. "I cannot say that she didn't call it the way she saw it, and that is the problem, as perception varies to fit preconceived notions."
"We will be appealing this decision to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals and hope that the 3-judge panel sees it differently," Ticktin states. "They will decide, looking at the same Complaint from the beginning, what they call "de novo," meaning to start the analysis all over, again. We do not need to show that the judge misused her discretion, just that the judge did not read the Complaint right as a matter of law. We have a decent chance to see a completely different outcome. So, don't count us out, just delayed."
It was the third time Samantha, 59, had tried to bring the case against Meghan, 42. She claimed that the mother of two defamed her in a 2021 Oprah Winfrey interview, accusing Samantha of changing her surname back to Markle "so that [Samantha] could cash in on her newfound fame."
Additionally, Samantha claimed Meghan defamed her by "falsely and maliciously" saying she was "an only child."
Samantha, who is Meghan's half-sister from their father Thomas Markle's first marriage, alleged that Meghan exposed her to "humiliation, shame and hatred on a worldwide scale" and pursued a "false rags-to-royalty narrative," claiming childhood hardship, which destroyed her reputation.
Samantha was seeking $75,000 in damages.
Samantha's previous attempts to sue Meghan for defamation were thrown out in 2022 and 2023 when a judge ruled: "[A] reasonable listener would understand it, [Meghan] merely expresses an opinion about her childhood and her relationship with her half-siblings."
"It is unfortunate to see that some of the press has chosen to wrongly report on the Judge’s ruling as a total win by Meghan," Samantha's lawyer said in a statement to ET at the time. "Upon reviewing the order, it is made very clear that the entire case was not tossed out, but in fact, the Judge is allowing Samantha the ability to amend her complaint within a 14 day period."
The statement continued, "This upcoming amendment will address certain legal issues that are related to our claims for defamation as it specifically relates to the Oprah interview on CBS. We vehemently oppose the narrative that the press has decided to spin in Meghan’s favor and look forward to presenting an even stronger argument for the defamation and losses that our Client has had to endure."
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