Meghan Markle’s half-sister Samantha is launching an appeal against a judge’s decision to throw out a defamation case against the Duchess of Sussex.
Meghan’s half-sibling lost a battle against the former working royal after comments made during the couple’s explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey and their bombshell series on Netflix. A case was dismissed in March by a judge in Florida. Samantha Markle wasn’t happy with comments made by Meghan during her sit-down with Oprah or in her TV doc debut with her husband Prince Harry. But the case was ultimately thrown out and dismissed by Judge Charlene Edwards Honeywell.
Now Samantha’s team has reportedly filed an appeal, which could overturn Honeywell’s decision. A court filing obtained by Newsweek states: “Notice is hereby given that the Plaintiff, Samantha M. Markle, by and through her undersigned counsel, appeals to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit from the Order Granting Defendants, Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, Motion to Dismiss entered by the Honorable Charlene Edwards Honeywell on March 12, 2024.”
The Mirror has approached representatives for both Meghan and Samantha for comment. Speaking of Samantha in her 2021 interview with Oprah, Meghan said: “I think it’d be very hard to tell all when you don’t know me. And I mean, this is a very different situation than my dad, right? When you talk about betrayal, betrayal comes from someone that you have a relationship with. Right? I don’t feel comfortable talking about people that I really don’t know.”
“But I grew up as an only child,” she continued, “which everyone who grew up around me knows, and I wished I had siblings. I would have loved to have had siblings, so I’m so excited to be pregnant so that Archie has someone.” Samantha said the statement was defamatory, with her legal team saying it was “disparaging, hurtful, and false” because statements suggested she was “a stranger, a liar” and a “deceptive fame-seeking imposter with avaricious intentions.” In a 58-page decision, Judge Honeywell said Samantha had “failed to identify any statements that could support a claim for defamation or defamation-by-implication” as her case was thrown out of court.
