Last Updated:
The lawsuit allegedly accused Geoff Payne of making damaging and false remarks about Roger Nores in sworn statements to Argentinian prosecutors.
Roger Nores had filed to voluntarily dismiss the case against Liam Payne’s father. (Photo Credit: X)
Roger Nores, once entangled in the controversy surrounding the death of his friend and late singer Liam Payne, has officially withdrawn from the legal battle. He has dropped the defamation lawsuit he filed against Liam’s father, Geoff Payne—a case in which he was seeking over $10 million in damages. The lawsuit had alleged that Geoff made damaging and false claims about Nores in sworn statements to Argentinian prosecutors. Nores believed these statements led to serious personal and legal consequences, including his indictment on involuntary manslaughter charges in connection with Liam’s death. However, those charges were later dismissed, and Nores was acquitted.
Still, the damage was done, at least, according to Nores.
Rolling Stone confirmed on Wednesday that Nores had filed to voluntarily dismiss the case. At the time, speaking with Rolling Stone, he insisted Geoff “needed to backtrack on his statements.” But something’s clearly shifted since then.
In a recent email sent to Richard Bray, the attorney managing Liam’s estate, Nores wrote that Geoff “doesn’t need to apologise.”
“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. I kept that promise right until the end and it was pretty hard,” Nores shared in the same email, as obtained by Rolling Stone.
It didn’t stop there. He 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 everyday.”
Neither Geoff’s legal team nor the lawyers handling Liam’s estate have commented publicly.
Just last month, Nores was acquitted. The manslaughter charge — one that had been hanging over him for months — didn’t hold up in court, despite a prosecutor’s attempt to appeal. That ruling came not long after Rolling Stone published a thorough investigation into Liam’s death. The report included heartbreaking details and, for the first time, a public statement from Liam’s ex-fiancee Maya Henry.
Liam, known and loved globally for his work with One Direction, passed away in mid-October last year.