Meghan Markle will soon be facing her half-sister in court over an old libel case. While Samantha Markle lost the initial case against the Duchess of Sussex in 2024, a date has been put in place for her to potentially revive it meaning Meghan and her legal team will once again have to prepare for a battle.
There’s never a dull day in the Sussex household. It seems there is always another fire to put out, and in this case the fire is coming from Meghan’s own estranged family. A judge at the 11th circuit court of appeals, had initially set a date for this month, on the 11th, where Samantha would be able to try and revive her libel case. However, a court filing seen by the Express shows that an oral argument is now scheduled for the 9th of September.
What’s the story between Meghan and Samantha?
Samantha Markle, 60, has spoken out against Meghan Markle, 44, numerous times in the past and it looks as though any familial love between the two sisters may be long gone by now. The older sibling initially filed a lawsuit against the duchess back in 2022 after Meghan made a number of comments about her sister in her interview with Oprah as well as on her Netflix show, Harry & Meghan.
In 2021 Meghan told Oprah that she “grew up as [an] only child,” claiming she would have liked to have had siblings during her childhood. At that point her half-brother and half-sister had apparently already moved out. Samantha’s team also alleged that comments made on the show suggested that she was involved in the hate campaign against Meghan although Samantha is never mentioned by name.
These comments and vague allusions to Samantha apparently amounted to a campaign to smear her according to her legal team. She also claimed that it led to her receiving death threats.
Samantha lost the case but now she’s back
The first time Samantha tried to sue Meghan the Duchess’ lawyers stated that they would “give it [the case] the minimum attention necessary, which is all it deserves.” A decision was ultimately made in favor of Meghan in March of 2024 with a Florida judge stating that her remarks and opinions were “not capable of being proved false,” according to the New York Post. Meghan’s comments are mere opinion which makes it hard to sue over.
Meghan’s lawyers also stated in their filing that “An implicit or express statement that [Samantha] belongs to a hate group spreading disinformation about Meghan is an opinion protected by the First Amendment.”
However, the loss evidently didn’t deter Samantha and now she’s got a second shot at taking her sister down. Of course, Samantha had very little grounds to sue in the first place according to Meghan’s lawyers so it’s difficult to see how this will play out any different the second time around.
