Get ready for Meghan Markle and Prince Harry to sit down with Samantha Markle‘s lawyers for a deposition! …Maybe!
Meghan’s half-sister has been hoping she could get the Suits alum deposed over supposedly false comments made about Samantha in that infamous 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey. After all, a little less than a year ago, Samantha first filed a defamation lawsuit against her estranged half-sis. Now, a judge has signed off on the request, and Meghan and Harry will be deposed. However — it’s actually kind of complicated!
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According to a DailyMail.com report published on Tuesday, a judge has refused Meghan’s request to prevent Samantha’s lawyers from deposing her and Harry over the Oprah interview. The outlet reports Judge Charlene Edwards Honeywell handed down a ruling ordering Meghan and Harry to sit for depositions “within the next few months.” So it would appear Samantha has won this round of the legal battle. Soon, she’ll get to have her lawyers grill the famous couple over allegedly false statements they made to Oprah about Markle’s half-sis and family history.
But!!!
The outlet also reports Judge Honeywell took a “preliminary peek” at the case and warned the whole thing may be “ripe for dismissal” before the depositions can even get scheduled. According to the news org, the judge asserted Meghan’s request to dismiss the case altogether may actually come to fruition in time, as there “may be grounds to throw [Samantha’s case] out” completely. That would be a real curveball!
Samantha’s lawyers have been trying to get Meghan to respond to more than three dozen questions first filed months ago at a federal courthouse in Florida. However, Meghan’s legal team has balked at the ask. They requested Judge Honeywell rule on their dismissal motion before sitting for any testimony.
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For her part, Judge Honeywell has not yet dismissed the case as per Meghan’s request. But she has not yet stopped Samantha’s discovery push, either. In that aforementioned “preliminary peek,” Judge Honeywell wrote this passage in legalese, with the key part bolded out by us for emphasis:
“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. 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. Thus, defendant Markle does not satisfy the high standard required to stay discovery pending the resolution of a dispositive motion.”
For now, Judge Honeywell’s ruling means Meghan and Harry must sit for this newly-ordered deposition “which will have to take place before July,” according to the news outlet. That is, “if the case moves ahead” that far. Lots of “ifs” here. Thus, things are still very much up in the air. It kind of sounds like Samantha won the battle — in the form of the deposition demand — but still could very well lose the war.
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As Perezcious readers will recall, Samantha has been seeking $75,000 in damages from the Sussexes’ regarding claims made in their Oprah sit-down nearly two full years ago, as well as in their 2020 biography Finding Freedom. Samantha has argued in her prior court filings that Meghan’s supposedly false claims levied in such a public setting subjected the half-sis to “humiliation, shame and hatred on a worldwide scale.” Of course, let’s be honest: it’s not like Samantha hasn’t lobbed plenty of her own public-forum vollies at Meghan, too. Just saying!
Still, she has been trying to draw out Meghan in an on-the-record deposition for some time. Now, it looks like Samantha may just get her wish. That is, if the case isn’t dismissed beforehand, as Judge Honeywell herself noted. Following along OK, y’all?? There are soooo many twists and turns…
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[Image via MEGA/WENN/Sunrise/YouTube]
