Jury selection is set to begin on Monday, March 29th.
The former school headmistress who filed the suit against Oprah, Lerato Nomvuyo Mzamane, also will not be in court Monday.
However, sources say that both are expected to be in court on Tuesday.
Mzamane is suing Oprah after the talk show host said she "lost confidence" in Mzamane after news of a sex abuse scandal broke while she was the headmistress at the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa.
Mzamane, who said she didn't know about any sexual abuse, had trouble finding another job afterward.
Winfrey plans to defend her remarks about Mzamane on free speech and other grounds, arguing that she merely voiced her opinions.
Mzamane's lawyers, who note Winfrey's huge media reach, contend listeners would think they were based on facts she gleaned from the school's internal investigation.
Mzamane, born in Lesotho, formerly worked at the private Germantown Friends School in Philadelphia, and was living in the city when she filed suit two years ago. She earned $150,000 a year as the head of Winfrey's academy.
