Prince Harry to marry girlfriend Meghan Markle next year

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Nothing wrong with golliwogs. They used to appear on jars of Robinson's jam until the PC Brigade got their way in 2001.
 

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Meghan Markle argues to dismiss half-sister's defamation suit
Author of the article:Bang Showbiz
Bang Showbiz
Publishing date:Jul 26, 2022 • 18 hours ago • 2 minute read • Join the conversation

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, has argued her description of her childhood in her tell-all Oprah Winfrey interview was not meant to be “objective fact.”


The 40-year-old royal is being sued for defamation by her half-sister, Samantha Markle, who has claimed the former Suits actress made “false and malicious statements” about her in her bombshell interview last year, and in legal documents applying to have the case dismissed, the duchess’ legal team have argued she was making a subjective statement about her own feelings when she told how she “grew up as an only child”.

The lawyers argued Meghan’s description of her upbringing cannot be false because it is a “textbook example of a subjective statement about how a person feels about her childhood,” they say.

According to the Daily Telegraph newspaper, Meghan’s legal team wrote in response to Samantha’s allegation that her estranged relative told “false and malicious lies” in the interview: “Plaintiff (Samantha) first asserts that she can disprove that Meghan ‘grew up as an only child.’


“But this perception is inherently unfalsifiable. It is hard to imagine a more personal and subjective feeling than how one views their own childhood.

“Moreover, Plaintiff’s opposition completely ignores the context of the statement, where Ms Winfrey asked Meghan about her ‘relationship’ with Plaintiff (to whom Ms Winfrey referred as her ‘half-sister on her father’s side’).

“Meghan’s response to that question that she ‘grew up as an only child’ was obviously not meant to be a statement of objective fact that she had no genetic siblings or half-siblings.

“Rather, it was a textbook example of a subjective statement about how a person feels about her childhood.”

Samantha is also taking action over claims made in Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand’s biography of Meghan and her husband Prince Harry, but the duchess’ lawyers insisted she cannot be sued over the tome, Finding Freedom, because she didn’t write it.


The 57-year-old writer had argued Meghan made statements in the book via a third party, but the royal’s lawyers insisted the undisputed authorship of Scobie and Durand is the “death knell for all claims against Meghan based on statements in the book.”

They argued: “Meghan did not make the statements; she cannot be liable for them. It is that simple.”

As well as arguing for a dismissal, the lawyers are also looking for Meghan – who has children Archie, three, and Lili, 13 months, with Harry – to have her costs covered.

They told the court: “In sum, Meghan’s motion to dismiss should be granted, as should her request for attorneys’ fees, costs and other relief.”
 

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Meghan and Prince Harry ordered to sit for deposition in sister's defamation case
Samantha Markle is seeking damages over the "malicious lies" she alleged were told about her during the Oprah interview

Author of the article:Bang Showbiz
Bang Showbiz
Published Feb 08, 2023 • 2 minute read

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been ordered to sit for separate depositions.


The former ‘Suits’ actress is being sued for defamation by her half-sister Samantha Markle, who is seeking damages over the “malicious lies” she alleged were told about her during an interview Meghan and her husband Prince Harry gave to Oprah Winfrey after stepping down from royal duties in 2020, and a judge has now ruled the couple can be quizzed by the author’s lawyers.


Under the order, Meghan and Harry will be forced to answer questions regarding various public statements they have made, including as to whether they think members of the Royal Family are racist.

The 41-year-old actress — who has Archie, three, and Lili, 20 months, with Harry — had attempted to stop the depositions but her request to the judge was dismissed.


According to RadarOnline.com, Judge Charlene Edwards Honeywell stated on the request that: “Defendant Markle does not show that unusual circumstances justify the requested stay, or that prejudice or an undue burden will result if the Court does not impose a stay.”

But the judge warned some elements of the case may be “ripe for dismissal.”

She added: “Although a preliminary peek at the motion to dismiss suggests that some of the claims against her may be ripe for dismissal, the review does not reveal, at this time, a clear indication that the Court will dismiss the action in its entirety.”

Samantha — who previously alleged she has been subjected to “humiliation and hatred” as a result of the claims — is said to want the duchess to admit she “lied” when she claimed to Oprah that she and her half-sister had “little to no relationship” for the sake of selling a “rags-to-royalty story.”


Samantha’s lawyer Taylor E. Young has accused Meghan — who is said to be hoping for the case to be dismissed altogether — of “withholding evidence and stonewalling discovery.”

However, the Duchess’ California-based legal team has so far declined to provide any information, branding the various requests “irrelevant,” “vague” and “speculative.”

Her lawyer, Michael Kump, said the proposed deponents had “no discernible connection” to the statements at issue in the original complaint.

He has applied for the case to be dismissed, arguing that most of the statements at issue are not actionable given that Meghan did not make them, and that those she did make were simply opinions, which were “substantially true in any event.”

He has also applied for the discovery process to be delayed, pending the outcome of the dismissal application.
 

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Meghan Markle sued by half-sister for defamation, trial set for next November
Author of the article:Bang Showbiz
Bang Showbiz
Published Nov 28, 2023 • Last updated 1 day ago • 2 minute read

Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, will face a trial next year after her half-sister accused her of defamation.


Samantha Markle, a 59-year-old author, is suing the former Suits actress for $75,000 in damages over the “malicious lies” she alleged were told about her during an interview Meghan, 42, gave alongside husband Prince Harry, 39, to Oprah Winfrey, 69, after stepping down from royal duties in 2020 and moving to Los Angeles.


The case was thrown out in March. However, a new complaint was filed and the trial will now take place in November 2024.

Before the trial – which won’t require Meghan to attend – there will be “in-person” meetings.

Samantha alleged she has been subjected to “humiliation and hatred” because of the claims made.

She wants the duchess to admit she “lied” when she claimed to Oprah that she and her half-sister had “little to no relationship” for the sake of selling a “rags-to-royalty story.”


As part of the case, Samantha is also demanding that Meghan retract her suggestion that the late Queen Elizabeth was “racist” when she claimed to the veteran TV host that there had been “concerns” raised by unnamed members of the royal family when she was pregnant with her son Archie, now four.

In March, U.S. District Judge Charlene Edwards Honeywell ruled Meghan’s statements were simply opinions and “not capable of being proved false.”

Samantha had objected to Meghan telling Oprah that she “grew up as an only child” and hadn’t grown up with her half-siblings, with the writer insisting they used to have a “wonderful relationship” and she had “regularly driven” her father’s other daughter to school and “helped with her homework”.


But the judge ruled that as no reasonable viewer would believe the duchess was suggesting she had no half-siblings or wasn’t related to Samantha; her statements could not constitute defamation because they were just descriptions of her subjective experience.

“A reasonable listener would not think that Defendant was suggesting that she has no half-siblings, that Plaintiff does not actually exist, or that Plaintiff is not related to her,” the judge wrote in an order obtained by The Daily Beast.

“As a reasonable listener would understand it, Defendant merely expresses an opinion about her childhood and her relationship with her half-siblings. Thus, the Court finds that Defendant’s statement is not objectively verifiable or subject to empirical proof…. Because the statement is not ‘capable of being proved false, it is protected from a defamation action.'”



Samantha had also complained about statements made in ‘Finding Freedom’ – which was written by Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand – that claimed the half-siblings had barely known one another growing up, she had “never been close” to Meghan, and had been “handsomely paid” for an unflattering newspaper story.

But the judge said Meghan couldn’t be held liable for the contents of the book because she didn’t publish it.

The claims were dismissed without prejudice.