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Judge denies Prince Andrew’s bid to dismiss Virginia Giuffre’s lawsuit
Prince Andrew faces the prospect of either settling Virginia Giuffre’s sexual assault lawsuit out of court or a damaging court battle after a judge ruled the case could proceed to trial.
Ms Giuffre is suing Andrew in a civil case in New York alleging she was forced to have sex with Jeffrey Epstein’s friends – including the Duke of York – when she was 17. Prince Andrew strongly denies the allegations against him.
The civil case will now move into a discovery phase where Andrew may have to sit for an interview under oath - known as a deposition.
Ms Giuffre’s lawyer David Boise last night said she is not interested in a “purely financial” settlement with the Duke, saying she is seeking to be “vindicated”.
Mr Boise added that he may call Meghan Markle, Prince Charles and Andrew’s ex-wife Sarah Ferguson to testify.
Judge Lewis Kaplan was scathing of the royal’s legal efforts arguments to have the lawsuit thrown out in his 46-page decision released on Wednesday.
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Show latest update 1642074161 Virginia Giuffre shows solidarity with victims of human trafficking
Virginia Giuffre tweeted her solidarity with victims of human trafficking on National Human Trafficking Awareness Day.
She tweeted:
Eleanor Sly 13 January 2022 11:42
1642070344 What did the judge say in the Wednesday court ruling?
On Wednesday a judge denied Prince Andrew’s attempt to have Virginia Giuffre’s lawsuit against him dismissed. As a result he will now face a civil case in the US over allegations of sexual assault.
But what exactly did the judge say?
In his ruling, US District Judge Lewis Kaplan rejected the argument that a settlement reached between Ms Giuffre and Jeffrey Epstein more than ten years ago would absolve him of liability.
The judge said that the claim that Prince Andrew was one of the “other potential defendants” who were covered by the settlement deal between Epstein and Ms Giuffre’s – was “far from self evident for a number of reasons”.
He said: “[Andrew] argues that he ‘could have been included’ as a ‘potential defendant’ in the Florida case because Ms Giuffre made a general reference to ‘royalty’ in her Florida complaint, even though it did not name Prince Andrew as a defendant nor even mention his name.”
Read the court ruling in full here.
Eleanor Sly 13 January 2022 10:39
1642065470 Prince Andrew case: Will he face trial over Virginia Giuffre’s claims of sex abuse?
A federal judge in New York threw out a request by Prince Andrew to dismiss a civil lawsuit accusing him of having sex with an underage girl who was being sex-trafficked by late paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, in a bombshell ruling that paves the way for the case to go to trial.
Judge Lewis Kaplan ruled on Wednesday that the lawsuit brought by Virginia Giuffre can move forward to trial.
Ms Giuffre has accused the Prince Andrew of having sex with her when she was 17.
Rachel Sharp has more:
Will Prince Andrew now face trial? A New York judge has paved the way for a lawsuit accusing Prince Andrew of having sex with an underage girl to go to trial. So what happens now?
Eleanor Sly 13 January 2022 09:17
1642059916 Virginia Giuffre is not interested in purely financial settlement with Prince Andrew, lawyer says
Virginia Giuffre is not interested in a “purely financial settlement” in her lawsuit against Prince Andrew, her lawyer has said.
A US court has ruled that Ms Giuffre’s allegations of sexual assault against the royal can proceed to trial in a civil case after a failed attempt by Andrew’s lawyers to have the case dismissed.
As with any civil case the possibility of an out-of-court settlement looms but Ms Giuffre’s lawyer said there had been “no suggestion” that such a resolution would yet be discussed by the two parties.
Liam James reports:
Virginia Giuffre ‘not interested in purely financial settlement’ with Prince Andrew ‘Vindication’ is sought in this case, says David Boise
Eleanor Sly 13 January 2022 07:45
1642046454 The Prince Andrew ruling is a victory for women
“So Prince Andrew’s best chance of throwing out the civil case against him has gone, and he faces having to defend himself in court.
More broadly, it is a right platinum-plated mess. The homely and dignified preparations for the Queen’s platinum jubilee – 70 dutiful years on the throne, complete with special new pudding – have been gatecrashed by a sex case. Bit of a party pooper. Even if he never has to turn up in a courtroom, there are no good options for him – or the institution he is inextricably tied to.
The procedural wrangles are gone, the technicalities have been brushed aside. Judge Kaplan has judged there is a case to answer, has rejected the prince’s lawyers’ interpretation of the 2009 settlement agreement Virginia Roberts Giuffre and Jeffrey Epstein, and things look bleak for the Duke of York.”
Read Sean O’Grady’s piece for The Independent Voices here.
The Prince Andrew ruling is a victory for women | Sean O’Grady The effect is a ‘win’ for Virginia Roberts Giuffre – she can continue her quest for justice in open court
Bevan Hurley 13 January 2022 04:00
1642044654 Prince Andrew: Is 2022 going to be even worse for Queen and her favourite son than notorious ‘Annus horribilis’?
“Thirty years ago, Queen Elizabeth delivered a speech that has gone down in history.
Speaking in November 1992 at the Guildhall in London, the address was to formally mark the 40th anniversary of her ascension to the throne.
Under usual circumstances it might have been an occasion for the Queen to reflect on the moment, what she believed she had accomplished so far as Britain’s unelected head of state, and how she foresaw the years ahead.
As it was, worse was to come for the royals and their public image following the death of Diana in a car crash in Paris in August 1997, an event to which the Queen was accused of responding coldly. Some were ready to write off the royal family.
Yet, all of these travails may appear as pale as freshly fallen snow in comparison to the challenges now facing Prince Andrew, 61, long said to have been the Queens’s favourite.”
Read Chief US Correspondent Andrew Buncombe’s piece for The Independent Voices here.
Is 2022 going to be worse for the Queen and Andrew than notorious ‘Annus horribilis’? One thing is clear – this is an unprecedented moment for Britain’s royal family
Bevan Hurley 13 January 2022 03:30
1642042854 Who is Virginia Giuffre and what are her allegations against Prince Andrew?
Virginia Giuffre, also known as Virginia Roberts, first met now-convicted Ghislaine Maxwell in 2000 at the age of 17, when she was working as a spa assistant in Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club, where Ms Giuffre’s father also worked as a maintenance manager.
Maxwell approached her and asked if she was interested in being a masseuse for Epstein. According to Ms Giuffre, both Epstein and Maxwell began grooming her.
Ms Giuffre was allegedly trafficked to then 41-year-old Prince Andrew in 2001. The Duke is accused of having sex with Ms Giuffre (then known by her maiden name, Virginia Roberts) on three occasions; a trip to London in 2001 when she was 17 for which she was paid $15,000, and later in New York and on Little Saint James, a small private island in the US Virgin Islands.
Read Megan Sheets’ full report here.
What are the allegations in Virginia Giuffre’s lawsuit against Prince Andrew? Giuffre alleges she was trafficked to the Duke by his friend Jeffrey Epstein in 2001
Bevan Hurley 13 January 2022 03:00
1642041054 Jeffrey Epstein’s island: What really happened there?
The guests came from across the world, and from the highest ranks of society: celebrities and scientists and royals including Prince Andrew, touching down in a private jet and then boarding a helicopter to the island.
Its owner liked to call it “Little St Jeff”; locals called it “paedophile island”.
But what is the truth about Little St James, the 75-acre private paradise in the US Virgin Islands that billionaire sex abuser Jeffrey Epstein once called home?
The island is now at the centre of a web of lawsuits and criminal investigations seeking to untangle Epstein’s life.
Read Io Dodds’ full report.
Epstein’s island: What really happened there? Jeffrey Epstein island Ghislaine Maxwell
Bevan Hurley 13 January 2022 02:30
1642039254 Will Meghan Markle be called to speak at Andrew’s civil trial?
Meghan Markle could be called as a witness in Prince Andrew’s sexual assault lawsuit, according to Virginia Giuffre’s attorney.
David Boise told The Daily Beast last month that Ms Markle may have “important knowledge” of allegations that Andrew abused his Ms Giuffre three times when she was 17.
Judge Lewis Kaplan ruled on Wednesday that Ms Giuffre’s civil lawsuit alleging she suffered battery and intentional emotional damage could move forward. Andrew has strongly denied the claims against him.
Read the full story here.
Will Meghan Markle be called to speak at Andrew’s civil trial? ‘She is somebody we can count on to tell the truth,’ attorney David Boises says
Bevan Hurley 13 January 2022 02:00
1642037454 Judge’s ruling hailed as an important step in ‘Virginia‘s heroic and determined pursuit of justice’
Sigrid McCawley, Virginia Giuffre’s attorney, has welcomed a decision by New York judge Lewis Kaplan to allow her civil sexual assault case against Prince Andrew to proceed to trial.
“Today’s decision by Judge Kaplan denying Prince Andrew’s effort to dismiss Virginia Giuffre’s case against him is another important step in Virginia‘s heroic and determined pursuit of justice as a survivor of sex trafficking,” Ms McCawley said in a statement released on Wednesday.
Earlier, Ms Giuffre’s co-counsel David Boise said his client was “pleased” with the judge’s ruling and “looks forward to a judicial determination of the merits of those claims”.
David Boise and Sigrid McCawley
(REUTERS)
Bevan Hurley 13 January 2022 01:30
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