Meghan Markle is set for trial as a judge has given the date for the legal showdown with her half-sister, Samantha Markle.
The 59-year-old filed a defamation lawsuit against the Duchess of Sussex in March 2022, alleging that Meghan had exposed her to “humiliation, shame and hatred on a worldwide scale” during her Oprah Winfrey interview in 2021.
However, a judge dismissed this lawsuit 12 months later, claiming that Meghan’s remarks were opinions and “not capable of being proven false”.
During the interview, the duchess, 42, said she was an “only child”, something which Samantha refuted.
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Since the case was thrown out, it has been amended, and a judge has ruled there is now merit to Samantha’s claims.
In the original version of her lawsuit, Samantha claimed Meghan intentionally defamed her by providing information to the authors of Finding Freedom.
According to the 59-year-old, the duchess also claimed that Samantha “dropped out of high school”.
These details have since been taken out of the amended lawsuit.
Samantha Markle accused Meghan of spreading “demonstrably false and malicious lies”
GB News
A trial date has been set for November 4, 2024, which will begin in Tampa, Florida.
Samantha is seeking up to $75,000 (£59,000), and the trial is expected to last for up to five days.
The older half-sister has called Meghan’s Oprah interview “demonstrably false and malicious”.
She also claimed that the duchess’s comments hurt Samantha’s book sales for The Diary of Princess Pushy’s Sister Part 1, which was released in 2021.
Meghan Markle will likely not be present for the proceedings
PA
As per civil court rules, the former working royal is not expected to be present for the proceedings.
Samantha argued that she received death threats and alleged that after the airing of the Netflix series Harry & Meghan, her X account was suspended.
Her lawsuit reads: “Once Meghan started to have success as an actress, she no longer had time for her older sister, Samantha, and by 2016, the two had stopped visiting, though there were no bad feelings between them, as far as Samantha knew.
“Unfortunately, once Meghan met and began dating Prince Harry Meghan became hostile to Samantha, as well as her half-brother and her father, and Meghan’s relationship with Samantha became estranged.”
