Meghan, Duchess of Sussex wins defamation case against Samantha Markle
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex has won a defamation case brought against her by her half-sister Samantha Markle.
In March 2022, Samantha sued the royal for allegedly making “false and malicious statements” about her and their father Thomas Markle to a “worldwide audience” during her and her husband Prince Harry’s bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey in March 2021.
The 58-year-old requested $75,000 (£60,000) in damages as well as court costs and legal fees.
But on Friday, U.S. District Court Judge Charlene Edwards Honeywell dismissed the lawsuit and rejected Samantha’s allegation that Meghan had falsely claimed to be “an only child” by ruling that a statement of opinion was “not capable of being proved false”.
“As a reasonable listener would understand it, the defendant merely expresses an opinion about her childhood and her relationship with her half-siblings,” she wrote in a court order. “Thus, the court finds that the defendant’s statement is not objectively verifiable or subject to empirical proof… plaintiff cannot plausibly disprove the defendant’s opinion of her own childhood.”
The judge also dismissed allegations made by Samantha relating to content included in the 2020 book Finding Freedom, as Meghan didn’t publish the unauthorised biography.
Representatives for the 41-year-old have not yet commented on the decision.
