A judge in Florida permanently dismissed a US$75,000 (about C$101,250) defamation lawsuit on Tuesday filed against Meghan Markle by her half-sister, Samantha Markle.
The case, in which Samantha argued The Duchess of Sussex defamed her in several public interviews, was dismissed with prejudice by U.S. District Judge Charlene Honeywell.
According to the legal documents, the case was thrown out after Samantha, 59, failed to produce any defamatory statements for a third time. Her previous attempts to sue Meghan, 43, for defamation were dismissed in 2022 and 2023.
Samantha, who shares Thomas Markle as a father along with Meghan, filed her civil suit against Meghan over claims that the former actor minimized their relationship and exposed Samantha to “humiliation, shame and hatred on a worldwide scale.”
She alleged Meghan made defamatory statements about her during Prince Harry and Meghan’s 2020 televised Oprah Winfrey interview and in their 2020 biography Finding Freedom.
In her lawsuits, Samatha has tried to poke holes in what she described as her half-sibling’s “false rags-to-royalty narrative.”
At the time, Meghan told Winfrey she grew up as “an only child.” Samantha took issue with the statement and told the court it made she and her half-sister falsely appear like “virtual strangers.” Meghan also told Winfrey her half-sister changed her surname back to Markle only after Meghan had begun dating the Duke of Sussex.
When Honeywell dismissed Samantha’s lawsuit in 2022, the judge said Meghan’s comments were not defamatory.
“As a reasonable listener would understand it, Defendant merely expresses an opinion about her childhood and her relationship with her half-siblings,” Honeywell wrote in her order.
On Tuesday, Judge Honeywell ruled Meghan could not be found liable for the Finding Freedom book, as she did not publish it.
Samantha said both she and their father, Thomas, have suffered as a result of Meghan’s public comments. She called Meghan’s words “demonstrably false and malicious lies.”
Meghan’s lawyer, Michael J. Kump, said in a statement, “We are pleased with the Court’s ruling dismissing the case.”
Samantha has yet to provide public comment on the dismissal, though her lawyer told Newsweek they plan to appeal.
For her part, Meghan has publicly stated that she has not seen Samantha “for over a decade” and has little to no relationship with her or their father.
In the Sussexes’ Netflix series, Harry & Meghan, the Duchess said she does not know Samantha’s middle name, or her birthday.
“You’re telling these people you raised me, and you coined me ‘Princess Pushy?’ I hadn’t had a fallout with her,” Meghan said. “We didn’t have a closeness to be able to have that. And I wanted a sister!”
— With files from Global News’ Michelle Butterfield