Businessman Roger Nores has reportedly dropped his $10m lawsuit against his friend Liam Payne’s dad Geoff Payne despite insisting he wanted an apology from the grieving father

Liam Payne’s friend Roger Nores launched a lawsuit against his dad(Image: Dave Benett/Getty Images)

Liam Payne’s friend Roger Nores has reportedly dropped his defamation lawsuit against the late singer’s father Geoff Payne. The former One Direction star tragically died aged 31 in October last year after a fall from the third floor of a hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

He had been in the South American country with his girlfriend Kate Cassidy, who flew home earlier, as well as his pal Nores. Businessman Nores was charged for involuntary manslaughter over Liam’s death before being cleared of any wrongdoing on February 19.

Nores has now asked the court to voluntarily dismiss the defamation lawsuit against Liam’s dad Geoff, according to reports by Rolling Stone. In his original filing, he alleged Geoff shared false statements about him in sworn declarations to Buenos Aires police causing him damages of over $10 million.

When he was cleared of his charges in February, Nores refused to stop his lawsuit unless he received an apology from grieving Geoff. He has now reportedly changed his mind and in an email sent to Liam’s estate attorney Richard Bray, Nores wrote that Geoff “doesn’t need to apologize” to him over his former claims.

Nores (left) has dropped his lawsuit against Geoff Payne

Nores has also revealed a final promise he made to Geoff before Liam’s death. In the email obtained by the publication, he penned: “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 Nores had “full responsibility for Liam’s care during this last period when I was not there.” Nores adamantly denied the claims stating in his previous lawsuit that he “never agreed to be and was never the caretaker of Liam.”

Last month, Nores branded Liam’s death as “bad luck” and a “tragedy”. The Argentinian-born businessman explained that he had witnessed the One Direction star’s struggle with addition, but was unable to stop his downwards spiral.

The businessman has shared a promise he made to Geoff(Image: Anadolu via Getty Images)

He was with Liam just hours before the fatal fall and was initially given an “abandonment followed by death” charge, which can be punishable for up to 15 years in prison. After further review of the case, a judge later lessened this charge to “wrongful death” due to “imprudence and negligence.”

After reviewing the case, judges determined that Nores did not play any role in Liam “obtaining and consuming alcohol” and further ruled that Roger had no legal obligation to ensure Liam’s safety.

Geoff had claimed that Nores had “full responsibility for Liam’s care during this last period when I was not there.” Nores adamantly denied these claims stating in his previous lawsuit that he “never agreed to be and was never the caretaker of Liam.”

Liam’s death was caused from “multiple trauma” and “internal and external haemorrhage.” There were multiple drugs found in his system at the time of his death including benzodiazepines, crack, and pink cocaine.