Markle vs. Markle! Meghan faces defamation trial after half-sister Samantha claimed she was defamed in order to ‘cover up’ her ‘false rags-to-riches’ narrative

• Samantha Markle filed an amended lawsuit against Meghan in April of this year
• Her first claim, alleging defamation in Finding Freedom, was dismissed
• She continues to allege that Meghan defamed her by telling Oprah Winfrey she grew up ‘an only child’ 
• Trial date has been set for November 2024 in Tampa, Florida 
• Judge has not yet responded to Meghan’s motion to dismiss the new claim 

Another trial date has been set for Meghan Markle’s court fight with her half-sister Samantha. 

Samantha, 59, claims Meghan defamed her when she said in her Oprah Winfrey interview that she had grown up an only child. 

She alleges that the remark, along with Meghan’s comment that she ‘doesn’t really know her’, was defamatory. Samantha is now demanding $75,000 in damages. 

The judge threw out the case in March but an amended complaint was filed the following month. Meghan sought to have the amended complaint dismissed in May, but the judge is yet to rule on the request. 

Meghan Markle pictured at the Variety 2023 Power of Women event in California on November 16

Meghan and Harry’s Oprah Winfrey interview in March 2021. She claimed she grew up an ‘only child’ 

In a decision dated November 14, the same judge set a trial date for November 2024, with ‘in person’ meetings scheduled beforehand. 

Due to the case being in civil court, Meghan will not have to appear should the case go to trial. 

Her team of attorneys did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com’s inquiries. 

Samantha is Meghan’s father Thomas’s oldest daughter. The pair have different mothers. 

Since Meghan’s engagement to Prince Harry, Samantha has appeared in countless TV and radio interviews. 

She maintains that the pair were close in childhood and that she often ‘helped Meghan with her homework’ and took her on trips to the mall. 

Samantha Markle claims she and Meghan were close when Meghan was a child

Samantha Markle is seeking damages in excess of $75,000

‘Once Meghan started to have success as an actress, she no longer had time for her older sister, Samantha, and by 2016, the two had stopped visiting, though there were no bad feelings between them, as far as Samantha knew. 

‘Unfortunately, once Meghan met and began dating Prince Harry Meghan became hostile to Samantha, as well as her half-brother and her father, and Meghan’s relationship with Samantha became estranged,’ her lawsuit reads. 

In her first version of the lawsuit, Samantha claimed Meghan intentionally defamed her by providing information to the authors of Finding Freedom that she says is false. 

Among the tidbits was Meghan’s apparent claim that Samantha ‘dropped out of  high school’. 

Those details are scrubbed from the amended complaint, which focuses solely on Meghan’s remarks in the Oprah interview.  

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