Duchess Meghan versus Samantha Markle
Court date in dispute with half-sister is set
Duchess Meghan has fallen out with her family.
© imago/PPE
If Duchess Meghan and Samantha Markle do not agree soon, there is no way around a court case – the date is now.
A judge from the US state of Florida has scheduled an explosive court date. Should Duchess Meghan (41) and her half-sister Samantha Markle (57) not be able to come to an agreement out of court, there would be a trial before a US court on October 3, 2023. This is reported, among other things, by the British “Daily Mail”. Accordingly, judge Charlene Edwards Honeywell strives for a quick and thus “cost-effective” procedure, it should not take longer than five days until the verdict.
The two parties would have until May next year at the latest to come to an agreement otherwise and to file the dispute – otherwise the court date will be around six months later. However, in view of the strongly contradicting statements made by Duchess Meghan and Samantha Markle, an early agreement seems unlikely.
That’s what the argument is about
Markle sued her half-sister for defamation in March this year. Among other things, some of the statements made by Prince Harry’s (37) wife in the much-considered Oprah interview were, from Markle’s point of view, a lie. For example, that Duchess Meghan had stated that she was an only child and grew up in poor conditions.
The star’s lawyers had recently tried to have the lawsuit dismissed. The reason: The statements of your client were not about “facts”, but about “feelings”. However, the judge in charge dismissed this application shortly thereafter.
Samantha Markle is demanding $75,000 (almost €70,000) in damages. Meghan’s lawyers described the claim as “unfounded” and “absurd” and initially announced that they wanted to pay as little attention to the whole thing as possible. At least now, since the court date has been set, this strategy should no longer apply.