Samantha Markle isn’t giving up on her legal battle against her half-sister, Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex.
The dispute centers around claims that Meghan defamed Samantha during her interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021 and in the Netflix documentary series “Harry & Meghan.”
Samantha Markle filed an appeal
On August 2, Samantha’s legal team filed an appeal, arguing that the court had not properly assessed the defamatory nature of Meghan’s statements.
The appeal brief, obtained by Fox News Digital, contends that the impact of Meghan’s words, along with the way they were presented, created a defamatory impression that has caused significant harm to Samantha.
According to Samantha’s legal team, a reasonable person watching the interview and series would have associated the negative implications with Samantha.
They argue that this has led to her facing daily harassment and threats, both online and in her personal life.
Once respected in her Florida community, Samantha now fears for her safety and has had to move multiple times due to credible threats of violence.
The court documents allege that Meghan deliberately set out to damage Samantha’s reputation.
“Meghan knew what she was doing, and how to do it,” the documents claim. “She destroyed Samantha publicly and on a global scale.”
The brief goes on to say that Meghan’s actions have made it impossible for Samantha to work or even engage in ordinary activities without being harassed.
Samantha Markle and Meghan Markle: Defamation Case
This legal battle began in 2022 when Samantha first filed her defamation lawsuit against Meghan. However, in March 2023, Judge Charlene Edwards Honeywell dismissed the case with prejudice, meaning that Samantha cannot refile the same claims.
Judge Honeywell ruled that Samantha had failed to identify any statements that could legally support a defamation claim, whether from the Netflix series, the book “Finding Freedom,” or Meghan’s interview with CBS.
In her ruling, Judge Honeywell noted that Meghan’s comments during the Oprah interview were expressions of opinion about her own childhood and relationship with her half-siblings.
“As a reasonable listener would understand it, Defendant merely expresses an opinion about her childhood and her relationship with her half-siblings,” the judge wrote.
The court concluded that Meghan’s statements were not objectively verifiable and therefore could not be considered defamatory.
Despite the dismissal, Samantha was allowed to file an amended complaint, which she did in April 2023. In this updated legal filing, Samantha’s team argued that Meghan’s portrayal of herself as an only child and her remarks about Samantha changing her last name to “cash in” on Meghan’s fame were both false and damaging.
Samantha and her lawyers were confident that this new complaint would show that Meghan had indeed defamed her sister, and they anticipated that the case would ultimately be heard by a jury.
Following the dismissal of the amended complaint, Samantha’s legal team has continued to push forward, signaling their intent to appeal the court’s decision.
The case remains ongoing, as Samantha seeks to clear her name and hold Meghan accountable for the statements she made.