Prince Andrew effort to toss sex assault suit hits roadblock

2 years ago 311

NEW YORK – A justice was mostly dismissive Tuesday of oral arguments by a lawyer for Prince Andrew who wants to triumph accelerated dismissal of a suit alleging that the prince 2 decades agone sexually assaulted a 17-year-old American who was trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein.

U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan did not instantly regularisation astatine the extremity of a video conference, but helium made wide that helium was not leaning Andrew’s mode arsenic helium rejected overmuch of the reasoning offered by the prince's attorney, Andrew Brettler, who said the lawsuit “should perfectly beryllium dismissed.”

“I admit the arguments and the passion. You’ll person the determination beauteous soon,” Kaplan told lawyers.

The justice directed that the speech of imaginable grounds successful the lawsuit was to proceed arsenic scheduled.

The oral arguments followed written submissions made weeks agone successful the lawsuit brought by Virginia Giuffre, a pistillate who alleged successful her August suit that the prince sexually assaulted her aggregate times successful 2001 aft she was introduced to him by financier Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.

Attorney David Boies, representing Giuffre, argued against dismissal of the lawsuit.

Epstein, 66, killed himself successful a Manhattan national jailhouse compartment successful August 2019 portion awaiting a enactment trafficking trial, portion Maxwell, 60, was convicted past week of enactment trafficking and conspiracy charges successful national tribunal successful New York.

The prince has strenuously denied the allegations successful Giuffre's lawsuit.

Giuffre was erstwhile successful Maxwell's London location erstwhile Epstein, Maxwell and the prince forced her to person intersexual intercourse with Andrew against her will, the suit said. It said that connected different juncture successful Epstein's New York mansion, Maxwell forced Giuffre and different unfortunate to beryllium connected Andrew's thigh arsenic helium touched Giuffre.

During Tuesday's arguments, Kaplan rejected Brettler's assertion that Giuffre's claims were excessively vague and that she failed to “articulate what happened to her astatine the hands of Prince Andrew.”

The justice work aloud a information of the suit successful which Giuffre alleged “involuntary intersexual intercourse.”

“There isn’t immoderate uncertainty what that means,” Kaplan said.

During overmuch of a proceeding that lasted implicit an hour, Brettler argued that the wording of a 2009 colony statement betwixt Epstein and Giuffre that resulted successful a $500,000 outgo to Giuffre protects the prince from being sued by her. The statement was unsealed and became publically disposable connected Monday.

The justice repeatedly disagreed with Brettler's statement that wording successful the statement astir “potential defendants” being protected from being sued by Giuffre would forestall her from suing the prince.

Kaplan noted that determination could beryllium galore interpretations of what constituted a imaginable defendant, and that the lone parties who would cognize precisely what was intended were Giuffre and Epstein.

“This is an illustration wherever the connection ‘potential’ is the usage of a connection to which you oregon I cannot find immoderate meaning astatine all,” the justice said.

He besides noted that the sealing of the presumption of the colony woody for a twelve years meant that anyone the parties mightiness person intended to beryllium protected against aboriginal lawsuits by Giuffre would ne'er person known, since they couldn't spot it.

The justice besides appeared dismissive of different claims by Brettler, including that it was unconstitutional for New York's politician to licence the impermanent changing of a New York authorities instrumentality to let lawsuits pertaining to enactment maltreatment from decades agone to beryllium filed.

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