Liam Payne’s friend Roger Nores is suing the late One Direction star’s father for defamation, according to a new lawsuit.
Payne died on October 16 last year after falling from a third-floor balcony at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel. The Argentinian prosecutor’s office shared at the time that the cause of death was due to multiple traumas and internal and external bleeding.
Last week, a hearing at Buckinghamshire Coroner’s Court confirmed that the death was the result of “polytrauma”, which refers to multiple traumatic injuries sustained by a body’s organ systems (via BBC).
Nores is one of five people who have been charged in Argentina over the death alongside CasaSur Palermo hotel manager Gilda Martin, reception head Esteban Grassi, Ezequiel Pereyra and Braian Paiz.
Wrongful death charges were made against Nores, Martin and Grassi, with the judge noting: “I do not believe that [Nores, Martin, and Grassi] planned and wanted Payne’s death. They did not plan the result but created a legally disapproved risk.”
Nores filed a federal defamation lawsuit in Florida this week (January 15) against Liam’s father Geoff Payne. According to court documents seen by TMZ and Rolling Stone, Nores alleges that Geoff submitted a sworn declaration to Buenos Aires police stating that Nores had “full responsibility for Liam’s care during this last period when I was not there.”
Nores, however, denies this and states in the lawsuit that he “never agreed to be and was never the caretaker of Liam.” He went on to say while they were “dear friends”, it was never a paid job. He alleges the statements in the sworn declarations are defamatory and has claimed they have caused him damages amounting to over $10 million (£8.1 million) but added that he would donate any money he’s awarded from the lawsuit to Liam’s son, Bear.
Elsewhere in the lawsuit, Nores alleges that Geoff failed to share emails the pair sent, including one in which Nores claims he told Geoff he “could not further as a friend devote the same time to support Liam.”
Nores went on to say he and Geoff spoke in September 2024 and claimed that he urged Geoff to come to Liam’s home to take care of his son.
In his lawsuit, Nores argues that he “never provided Liam with any recreational drugs and never controlled any prescribed medications taken by Liam.”
In a statement to the press, Nores added: “Geoff needs to backtrack on his sworn statement as he very well knows I wasn’t Liam’s nurse or caretaker. Liam, who I miss every day, was my dear friend and an independent, brilliant, respectful free man who did whatever he wanted whenever he wanted.”
A letter from the estate of Liam Payne was also included in the lawsuit and this declined to retract the declarations. They also subsequently accused Nores of “seeking to interfere with a police investigation by pressuring [Geoff] to change his evidence.” They went on to say they would “bring his actions to the attention of the Argentinian authorities.”
In the letter, they added: “The Estate could not take this matter more seriously. It has therefore taken the decision to support [Geoff] in this matter. [Geoff] denies, in the strongest possible terms, that he has defamed or otherwise caused any harm to your client (in the manner set out by your correspondence of 8 January 2025 or otherwise).”
Last week, the inquest into Payne’s death was told that it may still take “some time” to fully ascertain how the 31-year-old died, with the hearing now adjourned until later in 2025.
Senior Coroner Crispin Butler said: “Whilst there are ongoing investigations in Argentina into the circumstances of Liam’s death, over which I have no legal jurisdiction, it is anticipated that procuring the relevant information to address particularly how Liam came by his death may take some time through the formal channel of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.”
The judge in Argentina, Laura Bruniard, had previously declared that the singer jumped off his hotel balcony in an attempt to escape the building while in a drugged state.
“Payne’s consciousness was altered and a balcony was in the room. The proper thing to do was to leave him in a safe place, and with company, until a doctor arrived,” she wrote, adding that the hotel employees who had taken him back to his room “did not act maliciously” but were “imprudent” in their actions.
She continued: “I maintain that [Payne] tried to leave from the balcony of the place where he was left because the forensic experts noted that he did not lose his balance. This is how the fall occurred.”
An earlier report in November from the National Crime and Correctional Prosecutor’s Office No. 14 revealed that Payne’s toxicology results showed that cocaine, alcohol and antidepressants were all in his system at the time of his death.