Liam Payne’s friend Roger Nores has reportedly dropped his defamation lawsuit against Liam’s father Geoff Payne.
The former One Direction star died in October 2024 at the age of 31 after falling from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires.
Shortly after the tragic death, Roger – who was with him in the Argentinian city – decided to take his late friend’s dad to court.
He claimed that Geoff’s ‘false and defamatory’ statements about him to a prosecutor led to his arrest and manslaughter charges being placed upon him.
The singer’s father had claimed in ‘sworn declarations’ to police that Roger was part of a ‘care group’ dedicated to his son because he ‘could not be left alone in the vulnerable situation in which he was.’
The former manager previously said that the declarations made by Geoff were ‘false, contained material omissions, and many parts were not based on personal knowledge.’
Roger has now asked the court to voluntarily dismiss the defamation lawsuit against Liam’s dad Geoff and said he ‘does not need to apologise’, according to reports by Rolling Stone.
Roger was cleared of all wrongdoing on February 19 and initially refused to drop the lawsuit until he received an apology from Geoff.
In the email obtained by Rolling Stone, he also revealed the final promise he made to Liam’s dad prior to his death.
He wrote: ‘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.’
He continued: ‘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.’
After Liam’s death, Geoff claimed that Roger had ‘full responsibility for Liam’s care during this last period when I was not there.’
According to Roger’s lawsuit – which was filed in Florida – Roger was seeking damages of $10million, while he insisted he and the Strip That Down hitmaker were ‘mutual dear friends’ and nothing more.
Roger claimed that Geoff’s statements impacted his reputation in ‘mega proportions with extensive damages.’
But, according to Roger, the ‘net financial proceeds of the judicial proceedings’ would be ‘for the benefit of Liam Payne’s son’ Bear, who he had with Girls Aloud singer Cheryl.
He told Rolling Stone: ‘All the proceeds will be donated to my friend’s son.
‘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.’
In November, Roger told how he saw Payne less than an hour before his fatal fall, as he dismissed claims police had raided his home in connection to the tragedy.
After reviewing the case, judges determined that Roger did not play any role in Liam ‘obtaining and consuming alcohol’ and further ruled that he had no legal obligation to ensure Liam’s safety, despite Geoff’s implications.
He told MailOnline: ‘I never abandoned Liam, I went to his hotel three times that day and left 40 minutes before this happened.
‘There were over 15 people at the hotel lobby chatting and joking with him when I left. I could have never imagined something like this would happen.
‘I’ve given my statement to the prosecutor on October 17 as a witness and I haven’t spoken to any police officer or prosecutor ever since.’
At the time, he said he ‘wasn’t Liam’s manager’, referring to the pop star as a ‘very dear friend’.
‘I wasn’t Liam’s manager, he was just my very dear friend and please refer to the email I sent to Liam and his team on August 23.
‘I’m really heart-broken with this tragedy, and I’ve been missing my friend every day.’
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