Proceeds from the lawsuit will go to Liam’s son Bear
Liam Payne‘s dad is being sued for defamation by a friend of the late singer who was with him in Argentina on the night of his death.
Payne died on October 16 after falling from the third-floor balcony of his room at the CasaSur hotel in the Palermo neighbourhood of Buenos Aires.
An inquest into his death confirmed he died as a result of multiple traumatic injuries.
Five people have been charged over Payne’s death, including his friend Roger Nores, who saw Payne less than an hour before his death.
Now, Nores has launched a lawsuit against Payne’s father Geoff, accusing him of making “false and defamatory” statements about him to authorities.
Nores was arrested for manslaughter having “abandoned” the singer “knowing that he was incapable of fending for himself,” the Independent reports. Judge Laura Bruniard said Nores “failed to fulfil his duties of care, assistance and help” towards Payne.
Geoff Payne claimed in “sworn declarations” to police that Nores was part of a “care group” for his son because he “could not be left alone in the vulnerable position in which he was.”
But Nores has alleged that these statements to detectives were “misleading, false and defamatory,” and he is suing Payne for more than $10m (€9.7m).
In the lawsuit, which was filed in Palm Beach, Florida, Nores says he was “mutual dear friends” with the One Direction singer but that he did not have a legal duty towards him, and denied ever agreeing to be a caretaker of Liam.
He also denied taking the singer to see a psychiatrist in order to obtain medication, which he claims Geoff Payne told police following his son’s death.
Nores told Rolling Stone that all proceeds from the lawsuit would be given to Liam’s son Bear, who he shared with Girls Aloud star Cheryl.
“Geoff needs to backtrack on his [sworn] statement… I wasn’t Liam’s nurse or caretaker,” he said.
“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, Nores denied reports police had searched his home in relation to Payne’s death.
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.”
He added: “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.”
