11th Circuit Doubts Samantha Markle Defamation Appeal Against Meghan

Samantha Markle's defamation lawsuit against her half-sister Meghan Markle, centering on Meghan's 2021 Oprah interview and the 2022 Netflix series "Harry & Meghan," has faced significant legal setbacks in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. Samantha's attorney argued that the cumulative remarks by Meghan implied defamation, causing death threats and damaging Samantha's reputation, but the appellate judges expressed serious doubts about the appeal's merit, noting that Samantha's legal team failed to properly challenge the original district court ruling. Chief Judge William Pryor emphasized that the appeal did not adequately address all grounds of the lower court's dismissal. Meghan's legal team maintained that the contested statements were either opinions, substantially true, or not defamatory, and defended the involvement of social media analyst Christopher Bouzy, whose comments about Samantha spreading disinformation were featured in the Netflix series. The case, dismissed with prejudice at the district level, appears unlikely to proceed further, as the appeals court panel indicated they were bound to uphold the dismissal due to procedural and substantive deficiencies in Samantha's appeal. This legal battle highlights the challenges in proving defamation when statements are framed as opinions or protected speech in high-profile familial disputes.