Meghan Markle Gets Boost in Sister Samantha's Libel Lawsuit

Meghan Markle's chances of avoiding a deposition in her sister's libel lawsuit have been given a boost after an order by the judge.

Samantha Markle is suing for libel after the Duchess of Sussex told Oprah Winfrey she grew up as an only child during a March 2021 CBS tell-all. The case also relates to passages from the book Finding Freedom.

She wants to depose Meghan, their father Thomas Markle, Prince Harry, her own daughter Ashleigh Hale as well as former Kensington Palace communications secretary Jason Knauf and Christopher Bouzy, founder of data analysis firm Bot Sentinel.

Meanwhile, Meghan's lawyers are attempting to get the case thrown out, which if successful would spare all six from having to give evidence in the case.

That has created a race against time for a ruling that could bring the entire saga to a close without the need to disclose potentially private information in evidence and endure a grilling by Samantha Markle's legal team.

Meghan's lawyers asked for a motion to postpone the evidence sharing process, known as "discovery," but the application was rejected in February.

Meanwhile, Samantha Markle's lawyers accused Meghan's side of stonewalling their efforts to get the process underway and called on the judge to force the issue.

A past filing seen by Newsweek read: "Taken one by one, the Duchess' responses to the individual discovery requests are not all that troubling, however, given that the Duchess has failed to produce any documents responsive to the First Request for Production nor has she answered one single interrogatory, one single admission, or coordinated one deposition, it is clear that the Duchess' is willfully withholding evidence and stonewalling discovery."

However, the deadline has been pushed back to July 3, and the judge has now rejected Samantha Markle's efforts to compel Meghan to arrange the depositions, leaving the two sides to sort the issue out between them.

An order by Magistrate Judge Thomas G. Wilson read: "The defendant [Meghan] states that '[m]ost of the proposed non-party deponents have nothing to do with the statements at issue in the [plaintiffs first amended complaint].'"

The order added that a time has been scheduled between the two sides to co-ordinate the depositions.

"Accordingly, since the defendant [Meghan] states that the plaintiff's motion is moot, it will be denied," Wilson stated.

While not a huge surprise, the ruling takes the pressure off Meghan's team and makes it more likely they will have an answer on their motion to dismiss the case before having to give any depositions or hand over any evidence.

Meghan's lawyers previously stated in a court filing: "A deposition of Mr. Markle at this juncture, along with other discovery, would be an unnecessary spectacle and waste of the parties' time, money, and resources."

If the case does go ahead it will be a jury trial over an estimated five days and the court is eying January 2, 2024, as a potential start date.

Jack Royston is chief royal correspondent at Newsweek based in London. You can find him on Twitter at @jack_royston and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.

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