Meghan Markle has made legal moves to prevent her estranged half-sister Samantha Markle from deposing her husband Prince Harry in an ongoing defamation lawsuit.
Samantha sued the Duchess of Sussex following her bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey in March 2021, where she discussed her marriage and life since leaving the royal family.
During the sit-down interview, Meghan said she “grew up as an only child” despite having two half-siblings. Samantha has claimed she was embarrassed and defamed by her half-sister’s statements.
Meghan is being sued for defamation over her 2021 Oprah interview. (Image: CBS)
Following the explosive interview, Samantha’s legal team revealed they planned to depose Thomas, Prince Harry and Oprah during the legal case.
But on Tuesday, Meghan’s legal team pushed back against Samantha’s move to depose Prince Harry and Meghan’s father, Thomas Markle Senior.
“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,” Meghan’s team told the court in an official filing.
“In addition to the parties, she [Samantha] identified a whopping 19 non-party witnesses, including Prince Harry, Meghan’s mother, Oprah Winfrey, and several journalists/media personalities who reside in the United Kingdom, including Scobie and Durand, the authors of Finding Freedom.”
Samantha’s legal team revealed they planned to depose Prince Harry and Oprah. (Image: Supplied)
“Samantha Markle should not be permitted to force Meghan and, potentially, numerous non-parties to devote substantial resources to extraneous discovery while a meritorious motion that could dispose of the entire case is pending.”
Meghan’s lawyers also argued that her statements about her relationship with Samantha are “non-actionable opinion that are also substantially true”.
The filing went on to say that Samantha also identified “a whopping” 19 non-party witnesses, including Meghan’s mother Doria Ragland and several journalists, including Carolyn Durand and Omid Scobie – the authors of Finding Freedom.
Earlier this week, Meghan’s lawyer Michael Kump said Samantha “attempt to rescue her case” by claiming the former Suits actress is responsible for Finding Freedom‘s comments.
“To state the obvious, because Meghan did not write Finding Freedom, she cannot be liable for statements in the book. It really could not be simpler than that,” he said.
The judge has set the trial date to begin on October 2, 2023 in the United States but should last no longer than five days as Samantha demanded the case be tried in a “speedy” manner.
Samantha is seeking $120,000 NZD in damages.
