Get prepared for Meghan Markle and Prince Harry to sit down down with Samantha Markle‘s legal professionals for a deposition! …Maybe!
Meghan’s half-sister has been hoping she may get the Suits alum deposed over supposedly false feedback made about Samantha in that notorious 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey. After all, rather less than a 12 months in the past, Samantha first filed a defamation lawsuit towards her estranged half-sis. Now, a choose has signed off on the request, and Meghan and Harry will be deposed. However — it’s really sort of sophisticated!
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According to a DailyMail.com report revealed on Tuesday, a choose has refused Meghan’s request to stop Samantha’s legal professionals from deposing her and Harry over the Oprah interview. The outlet studies Judge Charlene Edwards Honeywell handed down a ruling ordering Meghan and Harry to sit down for depositions “within the next few months.” So it might seem Samantha has received this spherical of the authorized battle. Soon, she’ll get to have her legal professionals grill the well-known couple over allegedly false statements they made to Oprah about Markle’s half-sis and household historical past.
But!!!
The outlet additionally studies Judge Honeywell took a “preliminary peek” on the case and warned the entire thing could also be “ripe for dismissal” earlier than the depositions may even get scheduled. According to the information org, the choose asserted Meghan’s request to dismiss the case altogether may very well come to fruition in time, as there “may be grounds to throw [Samantha’s case] out” utterly. That could be an actual curveball!
Samantha’s legal professionals have been making an attempt to get Meghan to reply to greater than three dozen questions first filed months in the past at a federal courthouse in Florida. However, Meghan’s authorized crew has balked on the ask. They requested Judge Honeywell rule on their dismissal movement earlier than sitting for any testimony.
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For her half, Judge Honeywell has not but dismissed the case as per Meghan’s request. But she has not but stopped Samantha’s discovery push, both. In that aforementioned “preliminary peek,” Judge Honeywell wrote this passage in legalese, with the important thing half 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 should sit for this newly-ordered deposition “which will have to take place before July,” based on the information outlet. That is, “if the case moves ahead” that far. Lots of “ifs” right here. Thus, issues are nonetheless very a lot up within the air. It sort of feels like Samantha received the battle — within the type of the deposition demand — however nonetheless may very nicely lose the warfare.
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As Perezcious readers will recall, Samantha has been in search of $75,000 in damages from the Sussexes’ concerning claims made of their Oprah sit-down almost two full years in the past, in addition to of their 2020 biography Finding Freedom. Samantha has argued in her prior court docket 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 sincere: it’s not like Samantha hasn’t lobbed loads of her personal public-discussion board vollies at Meghan, too. Just saying!
Still, she has been making an attempt to attract out Meghan in an on-the-document deposition for a while. Now, it appears to be like like Samantha could get her want. That is, if the case isn’t dismissed beforehand, as Judge Honeywell herself famous. Following alongside OK, y’all?? There are soooo many twists and turns…
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