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defamation lawsuit

Meghan Markle Won in District Court in Samantha Markle Defamation Case; Appeal Was Argued in 2025

A Florida federal judge dismissed Samantha Markle’s defamation claims against Meghan Markle in 2024. Samantha appealed, and the Eleventh Circuit heard argument in 2025.

By DocumentaryTube Team 3 min read
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Meghan Markle won the district-court case her half-sister Samantha brought over statements associated with a televised interview, a Netflix series and a book. On March 12, 2024, a Florida federal judge dismissed Samantha’s claims with prejudice. Samantha appealed, and the Eleventh Circuit heard oral argument on September 9, 2025; the sources cited here do not establish the appeal’s outcome.

What the Florida judge decided

In Markle v. Markle, No. 8:22-cv-00511-CEH-TGW, U.S. District Judge Charlene Edwards Honeywell granted Meghan Markle’s motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim. Her March 12, 2024 order dismissed Samantha Markle’s defamation and defamation-by-implication claims with prejudice and directed the clerk to enter judgment for Meghan and close the case. The order said there was no reason to believe another amendment would cure the complaint’s deficiencies. Read the district court’s order.

The ruling came after Samantha’s third amended complaint, at the pleading stage. It was not a trial verdict weighing witness testimony and resolving every factual dispute about the sisters’ relationship. The judge assessed whether the statements pleaded could support the legal claims.

Which statements were at issue

The complaint concerned statements associated with Meghan’s CBS interview with Oprah Winfrey, the Netflix series Harry & Meghan, and Finding Freedom, a book published by a third party. Reuters summarized the dispute as involving comments about the sisters’ relationship and Samantha’s surname, as well as claims tied to the interview and series. Those were allegations in the case, not findings that a trial had established the parties’ competing accounts. Reuters’ March 12, 2024 report provides a contemporaneous summary.

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Why the claims were dismissed

Judge Honeywell concluded that the complaint still did not identify actionable statements. For statements tied to the interview and series, the order cited reasons including protected opinion, substantial truth based on materials before the court, lack of defamatory meaning and failure to plausibly plead actual malice. These were the court’s legal conclusions on the complaint, not a general finding that every disputed family-history allegation was false.

For statements in Finding Freedom, the judge explained that Meghan had not published the relevant material and could not be held liable as its publisher. The order concluded that no statement pleaded in Samantha’s third amended complaint supported either claim. In the judge’s words: “Plaintiff’s claims will be dismissed with prejudice, as she has failed to identify any statements that could support a claim for defamation or defamation-by-implication by this point, her third try at amending her complaint, in either the book Finding Freedom, the Netflix series Harry & Meghan, or Defendant and her husband’s hour-long televised CBS Interview.”

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District-court judgment versus appeal

Stage What is established
District court On March 12, 2024, Judge Honeywell dismissed both claims with prejudice and ordered judgment for Meghan. The disposition followed review of the pleadings, not a trial.
Eleventh Circuit Samantha appealed as case No. 24-11091. The court’s official case page lists oral argument on September 9, 2025; the pages cited here do not establish a subsequent disposition.

The Eleventh Circuit case page identifies Samantha as appellant and Meghan as appellee. The court’s oral-argument listing includes an audio recording for September 9, 2025. An argument date confirms that the appeal was heard; it does not, by itself, show whether the judgment was affirmed, reversed or otherwise changed.

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How much Samantha sought

TIME reported that Samantha sought $75,000 in damages. That was the amount claimed, not money awarded by the district-court order. TIME also reported Meghan’s lawyer, Michael Kump, saying, “We are pleased with the Court’s ruling dismissing the case,” and Samantha’s lawyer describing the decision as “upsetting” and saying it would be appealed. TIME’s report, updated January 19, 2026, attributes those statements to the lawyers.

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