Samantha Markle has been warned by a former US prosecutor that she could face ruin if Meghan Markle successfully dismisses her defamation lawsuit.
The 58-year-old half sister of the Duchess has sued her for defamation in which she alleges Meghan "published and disseminated false and malicious lies designed to destroy [her] reputation" and exposed her to "humiliation, shame and hatred on a worldwide scale" to paint a false narrative of her childhood.
Meghan immediately filed a motion to dismiss the case - a motion filed when someone believes that the complaint is invalid - which has now been pending for a whole year. A legal expert has warned that if Meghan is successful in dismissing the lawsuit, Samantha could face financial ruin if she is required to pay the royal's legal bills.
Former US federal prosecutor Mitchel Epner, who now practices at the Rottenberg Lipman Rich P.C in New York City, said: "If Meghan Markle is successful in dismissing, then under what’s called the anti-SLAPP, she would be in a position to get her legal fees paid for by the plaintiff.
“The threat to Samantha Markle that she might end up having to pay Meghan Markle’s legal fees, which given how long this case has gone on, we’re clearly in excess of $100,000,“ he told the Express.
The longer the case goes unresolved for, the more expensive the legal bills will be. He adds that if the lawsuit moves past the motion to dismiss stage, then Meghan will no longer be able to enforce her half sibling to pay her legal fees.
Legal expert Mr Epner believes the case will go in Meghan's favour, as the claims made by the Duchess don't appear to be grounds for a defamation lawsuit. He said: "Under US defamation law, the defamatory statement has to be considered in the context in which it was said. You can’t just strip out one phrase - that’s not the way it works."
He adds that it is unusual for a judge to allow a motion to dismiss to stay pending for this amount of time without taking action. "I think it is possible that the entire case will be dismissed," he told the publication.
"The best piece of hope that Samantha Markle has is that earlier Meghan Markle had made a motion to stay discovery, meaning not have the case move forward because the case was going to be dismissed. And the judge said that some parts of this complaint seem like they could be dismissible - not everything is clearly dismissible on its face.
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