UK’s Prince Andrew failed to persuade the US judge to dismiss the sex-abuse lawsuit of Virginia Giuffre

UK’s Prince Andrew failed to persuade the US judge to dismiss the sex-abuse lawsuit of Virginia Giuffre

NEW YORK- The Duke of York, Prince Andrew, couldn’t convince a judge to dismiss Virginia Giuffre’s sexual assault accusation, according to which Britain’s Prince had sexually harassed the victim when she was underage.

In a court’s decision, publicly announced on Wednesday, Lewis Kaplan, the U.S. District Judge, said, “Giuffre, 38, could pursue claims that Andrew battered her and intentionally caused her emotional distress while the late financier Jeffrey Epstein was trafficking her”.

The judge further said, “it was premature to assess Andrew’s efforts to ‘cast doubt’ on those claims, though the 61-year-old prince could do so at a trial”.

Also, it was too soon to determine whether “Giuffre’s 2009 civil settlement with Epstein ‘clearly and unambiguously’ shielded Andrew from her lawsuit”.

The judge is yet to discuss Giuffre’s merits of claims.

Andrew’s attorneys did not respond to the comments’ request.

David Boies, an attorney for Giuffre, said in a statement, that “my client was pleased, and looks forward to a judicial determination of the merits of her claims”.

The second son of Queen Elizabeth, Prince Andrew, has been accused of forcing Giuffre to have sex with him when she was a teenager two decades ago at a place in London owned by former Epstein’s partner, Ghislaine Maxwell. The girl has also alleged to be abused by the Duke of York at two of Epstein’s properties.

Kaplan’s ruling keeps the case on trial, which could begin anytime between Sept and Dec 2022 if the court fails to reach any settlement.

Prince Andrew fails to escape the sex-abuse accusation
source:trtworld.com

Sarah Krissoff of Day Pitney, who formerly served as a federal prosecutor, said the court’s ruling made it more likely that the defendant would go for an out-of-court settlement.

“I can’t imagine that Prince Andrew wants every detailed allegation to come out in the public realm,” said Krissoff. “If I were on Prince Andrew’s team, I most certainly would be having a discussion with him right now about resolving this case.”

In 2009, Epstein paid $500,000 to Giuffre to dismiss her Florida lawsuit that claims that he had sexually abused the victim when she was 18 or below.

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