Meghan Markle's half-sister Samantha appeals judge's decision to dismiss libel ... trends now
Meghan Markle's half-sister Samantha is not giving up her libel case without a fight after her attorneys filed an appeal against a judge's ruling that dismissed the lawsuit in March.
Last month, Florida Judge Charlene Edwards Honeywell said that the case should be dismissed because Samantha 'failed to identify any statements that could support a claim for defamation.'
The comments were related to Prince Harry and Meghan's infamous 2021 interview with American talk show host Oprah Winfrey.
The suit was dismissed with prejudice, meaning that it cannot simply be refiled.
However, Samantha's team are seeking to overturn that decision, according to a new legal filing that was seen by Newsweek.
'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 document reads.
A judge dismissed Samantha Markle's defamation suit against her sister Meghan in March. Samantha was seeking damages in excess of $75,000
The decision in March saved the Sussexes, pictured here at the recent NAACP awards, from a trial in Florida that was set to begin in November 2024
Pictured: Meghan Markle at Samantha's graduation in 2008. Samantha, 59, has accused her famous sister of defamation by implication for Meghan suggesting to Oprah that she grew up as an only child
The March decision spared Meghan, 42, from a trial which was set to take place at the court in Tampa in November.
Samantha, 59, has been seeking at least $75,000 for defamation and defamation by implication for Meghan suggesting to Oprah that she grew up as an only child.
Meghan also said that Samantha only changed her name back to Markle after she began dating Harry.
According to Samantha, Meghan made similar claims in the Netflix series and the allegations subjected her to 'humiliation, shame and hatred on a worldwide scale'.
In her 58-page ruling, Judge Honeywell said that Meghan's statements could not be defamatory because they are 'substantially true based on judicially noticed evidence' or 'not capable of being considered defamatory'.
Samantha had failed to 'plausibly allege that they are defamatory in the first place', the judge said.
The judge noted that Meghan's comments about her childhood was her 'merely opining' that she did not have a close relationship with Samantha, her half sister with whom she shares a father.
Judge Honeywell said that Samantha's claim that Meghan 'implied that (she) was a liar and a fame-seeker', was an 'improper mischaracterization' of what the Duchess said.
Turning to Meghan's statement that Samantha changed her name from Rasmussen, her married name, back to Markle after the Duchess began dating Harry, the judge said that 'the gist was true'.
She wrote: 'That Plaintiff used one last name
