Meghan Markle wins defamation suit brought on by half-sister Samantha

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Meghan Markle has won the defamation case brought forward by her half-sister, according to reports.

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Samantha Markle sued the Duchess of Sussex over comments she made to Oprah Winfrey and on her Netflix show Harry and Meghan.

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On Tuesday, a judge ruled in favour of the former Suits star and the case was thrown out of court, the U.K. Daily Mirror reported, which ensures her sibling can’t sue again.

In a 58-page decision, Florida judge Charlene Honeywell said Samantha had “failed to identify any statements that could support a claim for defamation or defamation-by-implication.”

The judge added that the half-sister’s “third try at amending her complaint, in either the book Finding Freedom, the Netflix series Harry and Meghan or defendant and her husband’s hour-long televised CBS interview,” is to be dismissed with prejudice, meaning she can’t raise the claim again.

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Meghan was accused by her half-sister of spreading “demonstrably false and malicious lies” to a “worldwide audience” in her 2021 tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey. The defamation case was first brought forward in March 2022, including allegations the duchess defamed her by giving information to an unauthorized biography called Finding Freedom and chatting about their relationship with Winfrey on live TV.

Samantha, 59, who shares a father with the exiled royal, said Meghan allegedly “orchestrated the campaign to defame and destroy her and her father’s reputation and credibility in order to preserve and promote the false ‘rags-to-royalty’ narrative (Meghan) had fabricated about her life to the royal family and the worldwide media.”

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She said Meghan allegedly made comments seeking to “demonize” her and portray her as a “liar and fame-seeker” in her show and also claimed some of Meghan’s fans launched “hate-filled smear campaigns” against her.

Samantha’s original lawsuit was dismissed after a Florida judge ruled in favour of Meghan, saying she was expressing “an opinion about her childhood and her relationship with her half-sibling.”

However, the judge gave Samantha a chance to partly refile her claim.

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