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The Prince’s lawyers had argued that Virginia Giuffre’s civil case should be dismissed but Judge Lewis Kaplan denied their motion to dismiss.
Last week, Prince Andrew’s lawyers argued in court that Virginia Giuffre’s high-profile case against him should be dismissed on legal grounds. However, today Judge Lewis Kaplan announced his decision to deny the motion to dismiss, meaning that the Prince will face a trial unless a settlement is agreed beforehand.
In the conclusion of his 44-page judgement, dated January 11 and made public this morning, the judge wrote, “For the foregoing reasons, defendant’s motion to dismiss the complaint or for a more definite statement is denied in all respects.”
Virginia Giuffre filed the civil case against Prince Andrew in August 2021 under the New York Child Victims Act, which, per the New York City Bar “extends the statute of limitations for a survivor of child sexual abuse in criminal and civil cases” in the state. She has claimed that she was sexually abused by Prince Andrew on “separate occasions when she was under the age of 18 years old,” in Ghislaine Maxwell’s London home, Epstein’s New York Mansion, and on Epstein’s private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Prince Andrew has repeatedly denied all allegations and told the BBC he has no recollection of meeting Virginia.
During a hearing on January 4, Prince Andrew’s lawyers made their arguments to the judge that the case should be thrown out. In addition to claiming that a settlement agreement that Virginia Giuffre signed with Epstein in 2009 should halt the legal action, they criticized her use of the Child Victims’ Act, which they have described as “unconstitutional.” The Prince’s lawyer Andrew Brettler also tried to make the point that Virginia “needs to lock herself into a story” before the discovery phase of the case. Judge Lewis Kaplan dismissed that argument instantly, saying she was not required to by law. “That’s not a dog that’s going to hunt here,” he said.
Prior to Virginia’s civil case against him being filed, Prince Andrew had already stepped back from his public role as a working royal following the negative reaction to his BBC interview about Epstein in November 2019. Since then, he has not appeared publicly with the royal family for more than two years other than at Prince Philip’s funeral. He did not even feature in the images released by Buckingham Palace of Princess Beatrice’s wedding in July 2020.
T&C has approached representatives for Prince Andrew for comment. In a statement, a spokesperson from Buckingham Palace said, “We would not comment on what is an ongoing legal matter.”
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