Prince Andrew seeks jury trial if Virginia Giuffre sexual assault suit is not dismissed
- Virginia Giuffre, an American, has accused the British royal of sexually abusing her when she was 17 while she travelled with financier Jeffrey Epstein
- Andrew has strenuously denied Giuffre’s allegations, and attempted to get the lawsuit tossed
Prince Andrew wants a jury to decide a lawsuit by a sexual assault accuser if he cannot get the case dismissed altogether, his lawyers said in court papers on Wednesday.
Virginia Giuffre, an American, has accused the British royal of sexually abusing her when she was 17 while she travelled with financier Jeffrey Epstein. The request from Andrew’s lawyers was inside a line-by-line formal response to the lawsuit Giuffre filed against him in August in Manhattan federal court.
Andrew has strenuously denied Giuffre’s allegations, and attempted to get the lawsuit tossed. Earlier this month, Judge Lewis A Kaplan rejected his attempt to win an early dismissal, allowing depositions and other evidence gathering by both parties to move forward.
Wednesday’s response was filed by Los Angeles lawyers Andrew Brettler and Melissa Lerner.
They said the lawsuit should be dismissed on several grounds, again citing Giuffre’s permanent residency in Australia and a settlement more than a decade earlier between Epstein and Giuffre that Andrew’s lawyers contend prevents her from suing the prince.
They also argued that she consented to sexual activity and the statute of limitations has expired.
Giuffre asserted that she met Andrew while she travelled frequently with Epstein between 2000 and 2002, when her lawyers maintain she was “on call for Epstein for sexual purposes” and was “lent out to other powerful men,” including Andrew. Her lawsuit said she still suffers significant emotional and psychological distress and harm.
Calls for Prince Andrew to lose dukedom, as monarchy casts him adrift
In the wake of the judge’s decision earlier in January, Prince Andrew – who had already stepped back from royal duties – was stripped of his honorary military titles.
Epstein, 66, took his own life in a Manhattan prison in August 2019 while he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges.
Giuffre has also levelled allegations at Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s long-time companion, but was not part of the criminal case that ended recently with Maxwell’s conviction on sex trafficking charges.
