Judge dismisses defamation lawsuit against Meghan, Duchess of Sussex

A federal judge on Tuesday dismissed a defamation lawsuit against Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, after her half-sister accused her of spreading “disparaging, hurtful and false” statements in interviews.

Samantha Markle, who shares a father with Meghan, claimed that comments Meghan made in a 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey and later in a Netflix documentary series, “Harry & Meghan,” were intended to portray Ms. Markle as “an undesirable opportunist’ who ‘talked her way’ into her famous half-sister’s life.

In a decision of 58 pagesJudge Charlene Edwards Honeywell of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida ruled that Ms. Markle had failed to identify any statements supporting her defamation claims. She also ruled that Meghan’s statements were protected, either because they were purely opinionated or substantially true, or because Ms Markle had failed to claim they were defamatory in the first place.

Meghan and her husband, Prince Harry, spoke to Ms. Winfrey in detail about their separation from the British royal family in a CBS special that aired in the United States on March 7, 2021, and in the six-episode Netflix series in 2022, they sent shockwaves around the world when they accused the royal family of failing to protect them.

Meghan is largely estranged from her half-sister and their father, Thomas Markle. When Ms. Winfrey asked Meghan about her relationship with Ms. Markle, who had written a supposedly tell-all book about her sister, Meghan demurred.

“I think it would be very difficult to ‘tell all’ if you don’t know me,” Meghan said in the interview, adding: “I don’t feel comfortable talking about people I really don’t know.” know.”

Ms. Markle alleged in her lawsuit that by making this statement, Meghan had “attacked the veracity” of her book and insinuated that she had “concocted a fictional story to receive an improper reward” from Meghan’s fame.

Ms. Markle, who lives in Lakeland, Florida, said that as a result of Meghan’s comments, the duchess’s fan base, including “a significant portion of the population of Lakeland,” became angry and “turned against her,” according to court documents.

The lawsuit said these statements damaged Ms. Markle’s reputation, portrayed her “as an opportunist trying to cash in on her sister’s success and fame,” and caused fear and emotional distress.

The dismissal of the lawsuit was the latest twist in a long line of legal battles for Harry and Meghan.

In December, a London court ruled in Harry’s favor in a landmark case against a British publisher over phone hacking. A month later, he withdrew an unrelated defamation suit against the publisher of another tabloid. And last week, a federal judge ordered the Department of Homeland Security to submit documents related to Harry’s visa to the court for review, after a conservative think tank questioned whether he had been allowed to wrongfully enter the United States to live, given that he had previously used drugs. usage.

An attorney for Meghan did not immediately return a request for comment.

Peter Ticktin, a lawyer for Ms. Markle, called the decision “deeply disturbing” and said they planned to appeal.

“Don’t count us out,” Mr. Ticktin wrote in an email to The New York Times, “just postponed.”