Meghan wins major lawsuit in family feud shock

Meghan Markle scored a massive victory in her bitter feud with family in the US, as Prince Harry attempted a legal win in London. Read the full ruling.

AFP)

Meghan Markle has won a defamation lawsuit brought against her by her sister Samantha Markle.

The stunning legal victory comes as Prince Harry appeared before a UK High Court this week in his legal battle against British tabloid newspapers over alleged phone hacking.

The Duchess of Sussex was sued by her half-sister Samantha, 58, over comments made during the bombshell Oprah Winfrey interview with Prince Harry in 2021.

A Florida judge dismissed the USD $75,000 ($A112,000) lawsuit, saying Meghan’s remarks were opinions “not capable” of being proven as lies.

Ms Markle told Oprah that she had grown up as an only child, which her older sister said made her the subject of “humiliation and hatred”.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in the infamous Oprah interview. Picture: Supplied.

The court found Meghan Markle’s opinions couldn’t be found as being factually false. Picture: Supplied

“As a reasonable listener would understand it, Defendant merely expresses an opinion about her childhood and her relationship with her half-siblings,” US District Judge Charlene Edwards Honeywell wrote.

“Thus, the Court finds that Defendant’s statement is not objectively verifiable or subject to empirical proof. Plaintiff cannot plausibly disprove Defendant’s opinion of her own childhood.”

In the filing submitted last March, Samantha Markle claimed her sister’s claims were “demonstrably false and malicious statements” that were made to a “worldwide audience”.

She later said in media interviews that Ms Markle’s “lies” were made to cover-up other lies, and that she had been hurt by her sister’s continued attempts in the Netflix series to paint her family as a house divided.

“We weren’t a family apart, any more than any other normal family. I had my apartment and a job, my brother had his,” she explained on Fox Nation. “But we were still only 10 minutes away from Meg.”

Samantha Markle tweeted images with sister of Meghan Markle to show they were note a family apart. Picture: Supplied

She added that, contrary to rumours, they grew up as sisters, not stepsisters.

“I’m not some disconnected sibling raised somewhere else, and then brought together later in life,” she said. “We pretty much grew up as a normal family. My brother and I were older siblings. When she was born, she was brought home from the hospital to our house.”

In adittion to the comments made in the Oprah interview, Judge Honeywell also found that Ms Markle can’t be held liable for claims made in the 2020 biography Finding Freedom, by Omid Scobie, because it was “unauthorised” and she did not publish its contents.

“Plaintiff’s claims based on Finding Freedom will be dismissed with prejudice, as Plaintiff cannot plausibly allege that Defendant published the book, and amendment of these claims

would be futile,” the judge wrote.

“Plaintiff will be allowed one final opportunity to replead her claims related to Defendant’s CBS interview and her claim for injurious falsehood.”

The judge gave Samantha Markle 14 days to appeal, after which time Ms Markle can seek legal fees and costs from her older sister.

Originally published as Meghan wins major lawsuit in family feud shock