Meghan Markle’s Sister Hands Over Documents in Lawsuit

Samantha Markle has handed over documents in her lawsuit against Meghan Markle as they wait for a judge to decide whether to throw out the case.

The Duchess of Sussex was sued by her half-sister over comments she made to Oprah Winfrey and on her Netflix show, Harry & Meghan.

Meghan applied to have the case thrown out and Judge Charlene Edwards Honeywell is currently considering whether to grant that application.

In the meantime, Samantha’s legal team submitted to the court a “notice by Samantha M. Markle of Serving Discovery.”

In essence, the two sides in a lawsuit must disclose documents relevant to the case and she appears to have now done that.

The document, seen by Newsweek, reads: “The Plaintiff, Samantha M. Markle, by and through her undersigned counsel hereby file this Notice of Serving Plaintiff’s Response to Defendant Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex’s Request for Production and Plaintiff’s Response to Defendant Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex’s Request for Answers to Interrogatories.”

Meghan has yet to file her response to Samantha’s requests and will be hoping the case is brought to a swift conclusion before any private or sensitive paperwork has been disclosed.

The Duchess has learned the hard way that evidence in a lawsuit can be reputationally damaging even if she wins, following a U.K. High Court case she brought against The Mail on Sunday.

Meghan sued the tabloid for printing a private letter she sent to Thomas Markle, her and Samantha’s father, and won in December 2021. During the two-year saga, however, former Kensington Palace communications secretary Jason Knauf handed the Court of Appeal a trove of her private messages.

She was forced to apologize after it transpired her lawyers had told the court she had not cooperated with the royal biography Finding Freedom when she had, in fact, authorized Knauf to brief the authors.

She avoided full disclosure of evidence by winning the case on summary judgment, without a trial, before the documents were exchanged between the two sides.

Samantha accused Meghan of misleading viewers of the Oprah Winfrey documentary about how close they were growing up.

Meghan said during the March 2021 tell-all: “I don’t feel comfortable talking about people that I really don’t know. But I grew up as an only child, which everyone who grew up around me knows.

“And I wished I had siblings. I would have loved to have had siblings.”

And Meghan said on Netflix: “I don’t remember seeing her when I was a kid at my dad’s house, if and when they would come around.”

Samantha’s complaint, seen by Newsweek, accuses Meghan of using the Netflix show to “publish, promulgate and distribute on a worldwide level malicious, hurtful, and damaging lies many of which were directed at Samantha.”

The lawsuit continues.

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

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