Meghan Markle's sister Samantha to fight defamation lawsuit ruling

Meghan Markle's estranged sister, Samantha Markle, plans to refile her defamation lawsuit against the Duchess of Sussex, according to a new statement from her lawyer.

Samantha Markle is not giving up without a fight.

Meghan Markle's sister is taking another legal shot at the Duchess of Sussex after her defamation lawsuit was thrown out, refiling the claims that the judge dismissed without prejudice.

"It is unfortunate to see that the press has chosen to wrongly report on the Judge's ruling as a total win by Meghan," Samantha's lawyer, Jamie A. Sasson, said in a statement to Newsweek, referring to the decision made last week on the case.

"Upon reviewing the order, it is made very clear that the entire case was not tossed out, but in fact, the Judge is allowing Samantha the ability to amend her complaint within a 14-day period," Sasson continued.

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"This upcoming amendment will address certain legal issues that are related to our claims for defamation as it specifically relates to the Oprah interview on CBS."

The statement concluded with "We vehemently oppose the narrative that the press has decided to spin in Meghan's favor and look forward to presenting an even stronger argument for the defamation and losses that our Client has had to endure."

Samantha originally filed the lawsuit in 2021, requesting $75k from Meghan after she allegedly defamed her in two separate instances.

The first was in a book called "Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the Making of a Modern Royal Family," written by Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand. Although Meghan was not listed as an author or contributor for the book, Samantha claimed that she "contributed false information [about Samantha] to the book through her agent and press secretary."

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The judge dismissed this claim with prejudice as Meghan did not write the information that her sister had deemed problematic.

The second instance was in Meghan and Prince Harry's 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey.

In that interview, Meghan was asked about Samantha's tell-all, "The Diary of Princess Pushy's Sister." She said that it would be "very hard to tell all when you don't know me," and claimed that she "grew up as an only child."

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She went on to say that she was not close with her half-sister and barely saw her over the past few decades, and that "She changed her last name back to Markle, and I think she's an early fifties at that time only when I started dating Harry. And so I think that says enough."

Because of those statements, Samantha claimed in court documents that she was publicly "seen as an opportunist trying to cash in on her sister's success and fame."

These statements "caused irreparable prejudice, injury and harm to [Samantha's] reputation, as well as anxiety and emotional distress," the court documents read. "She has received hate mail, ongoing negative press, and was stalked by one of [Meghan's] fans."

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The judge dismissed these particular claims because "Here, a reasonable listener would not think that [Meghan] was suggesting that she has no half-siblings, that [Samantha] does not actually exist, or that [Samantha] is not related to her ….

"As a reasonable listener would understand it, [Meghan] merely expresses an opinion about her childhood and her relationship with her half-siblings."

However, Samantha's claims of defamation stemming from the Winfrey interview were dismissed without prejudice, meaning that she could refile her case and get another crack at suing her sister, which is what she's doing now.

If the suit is dismissed again, she will not get another chance, and there is a possibility she may have to pay Meghan's legal fees.

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