Liam Payne's friend Roger Nores drops defamation lawsuit against late singer's dad Geoff: 'It was hard'
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Liam Payne’s close friend, Roger Nores, has decided to withdraw his defamation lawsuit against the late singer’s father, Geoff Payne.
Nores had been with 'One Direction' singer in his final days in Argentina and had initially accused Geoff Payne of making damaging statements after his death.
Liam Payne's friend drops defamation suit against singer's father
Roger Nores reportedly filed legal documents on Wednesday, April 9, to dismiss the suit without prejudice. Though this could leave room to refile, Nores has said he has no intention of doing so.
In documents obtained by TMZ, Nores stated he was “tired” and no longer wished to pursue the matter.
He said he wants to “focus on productive stuff, and doesn’t want to fight anymore.”
The lawsuit originally alleged that Geoff had made “false” and “misleading” statements to Argentine officials, which were later accessed in Florida and allegedly damaged Nores' reputation in “mega proportions with extensive damages.”
Liam Payne’s friend Roger Nores says he kept his promise to Geoff Payne
Roger Nores, while talking to Rolling Stone, said he believed Geoff Payne “need[ed] to backtrack on his statements.”
However, in an email to Liam’s estate attorney Richard Bray, Nores reportedly wrote that Geoff “doesn’t need to apologize.”
“I’ll always remember when [Geoff] came to me the first night at the ranch after I had picked them up at the airport, how he asked me to promise I would never give up on Liam, no matter what,” Roger Nores wrote in the email.
“I kept that promise right until the end, and it was pretty hard," Nores wrote in the email.
Nores added, “In spite of how everything turned out and Geoff saying in his statement to the police [that] ‘this is all Roger’s responsibility,’ I would have done this 100 times over because I loved Liam with all my heart and I miss him every day.”
Liam Payne's estate slams Roger Nores' motives
In response to the lawsuit earlier this year, Liam Payne’s estate had refused to retract Geoff Payne's declarations.
They accused Nores of “seeking to interfere with a police investigation by pressuring [Geoff] to change his evidence,” and stated they would alert Argentinian authorities about his actions.
Payne’s estate also criticized Nores’ intent to donate any potential lawsuit damages to Liam’s son, calling it “pointless” and claiming it caused “irreparable damage” to the child. The estate maintained its position in a January 10 response.
Nores was acquitted of an involuntary manslaughter charge last month, despite an appeal from the local prosecutor. Liam Payne died in mid-October after falling from the third-floor balcony of the CasaSur Palermo hotel in Buenos Aires.
