Prince Andrew’s effort to immediately block the progression of a lawsuit by a woman who says he sexually assaulted her when she was 17 – on the grounds that she no longer lives in the US – was rejected by a federal judge, as oral arguments were set to proceed on Monday on Andrew’s request to dismiss the lawsuit.
Judge Lewis A Kaplan, in a written order on Friday, told Andrew’s lawyers they must turn over documents on the schedule that has been set in the lawsuit brought in August by Virginia Giuffre.
Giuffre says she was abused by Andrew on multiple occasions in 2001 while she was being sexually abused by the late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Andrew’s attorney, Andrew Brettler, has called the lawsuit “baseless” and the Duke of York has repeatedly denied Giuffre’s allegations.
The order was filed three days before the scheduled public release on Monday in New York of a 2009 settlement agreement between Epstein and Giuffre.
Lawyers for Andrew say that the agreement protects him from claims like those brought by Giuffre and will be sufficient grounds for the lawsuit’s dismissal.
Andrew’s lawyers had claimed that the evidence was so strong that Giuffre does not reside in the US that it was pointless to exchange evidence until that question is resolved because it could result in the lawsuit’s dismissal.
They argued that Giuffre has lived in Australia all but two of the past 19 years, has an Australian driver’s license and lives in Perth, Western Australia, where she has been raising three children with her husband, who is Australian.
In a statement, Giuffre attorney Sigrid McCawley called the request to halt the case “just another in a series of tired attempts by Prince Andrew to duck and dodge the legal merits of the case Virginia Giuffre has brought against him. All parties in litigation are subject to discovery and Prince Andrew is no exception.”
Kaplan, in a one-page order, noted that Andrew’s lawyers have requested that “extensive” materials be turned over by Giuffre by 14 January, including documents related to where she has lived.
And he said the prince’s attorneys have not yet formally raised the defense that the lawsuit cannot proceed on the grounds that Giuffre has been living in Australia rather than the US state of Colorado, where her lawyers say she is a resident.
His order expressed no opinion on the merits of Andrew’s claims that Giuffre should be disqualified from suing because she lives in Australia.
Oral arguments via a video teleconference on the prince’s request to dismiss the case are scheduled for Monday morning.
In October, Andrew’s lawyers attacked the lawsuit on multiple grounds, saying Giuffre had made false claims against Andrew because he “never sexually abused or assaulted” her.
Epstein killed himself in a Manhattan federal jail in August 2019 as he awaited trial on sex-trafficking charges.
On Friday, US prosecutors dropped charges against the two jailers on duty that night, while Epstein was awaiting trial in New York on fresh sex-trafficking charges, having previously been convicted of sexual offenses in Florida.
Epstein’s former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell, 60, was convicted on Wednesday of charges including sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy after a month-long trial.
