Virginia Giuffre’s Lawsuit Against Prince Andrew Is Scheduled To Go To Trial Late Next Year
I guess there really are some things you can’t “Do you know who I am?” your way out of, as Prince Andrew is learning the hard way. Wild to think that palling around with Jeffrey Epstein could leave a person with more than just a sore back from sleeping on a mattress that corrodes your soul from the inside out. Andrew’s longtime accuser, Virginia Giuffre, hit him with a federal civil lawsuit that was filed in Manhattan, in which she accused him of sexual assault when she was underage. Andrew tried to get her lawsuit thrown out by alleging Virginia was an active participant in her situation and recruited victims for Epstein. Virginia’s lawyers have yet to respond to that request for dismissal. But until then, a Manhattan federal judge has prepared all those involved to consider getting their best courtroom attire cleaned and pressed as early as Fall 2022.
CNN reports that a status conference was held in Manhattan earlier today to discuss Virginia’s lawsuit against Prince Charles’ biggest headache. US District Judge Lewis Kaplan explained that because of the pandemic, it’s tough to nail down an exact date for the trial, as well as getting a jury together. But! Everyone should expect to be really busy later next year. Nothing is locked in at the moment because there are still a few steps that need to happen. CNN says that Virginia’s lawyers need to respond to Andrew’s response to her lawsuit (essentially, they need to respond to his request that her lawsuit be thrown out). They have until November 29 to respond. After that, Prince Andrew’s lawyers have until December 13 to reply to her response.
And if all that goes accordingly and both sides decide to proceed and fight it out in court, then later in 2022 is when that will reportedly happen. The trial date will fall somewhere between September 2022 and December 2022. That timeline feels really far away, considering we’re only in Fall 2021 right now. Not only does it give everyone lots of time to prepare their arguments, or a certain someone plenty of time to figure out how to not perspire under pressure, but it also means everyone involved has a chance to book a flight to Manhattan while the fares are still cheap. And according to CNN, a whole lot of people could be flying in for this thing:
There may be between 16 and 24 witnesses deposed by both sides in the case, some of whom are British citizens, attorney David Boies, who represents Giuffre, and attorney Andrew Brettler, who represents the prince, said during the telephone conference Wednesday.
That’s a lot of witnesses, and CNN doesn’t even begin to speculate who any of them might be. We can all guess that Prince Andrew’s most reliable character witness, Sarah Ferguson, could possibly be someone who takes the stand and testifies that Andrew is a great guy who would (aristocratic British gasp) never get wrapped up in a sex assault case with a minor, before nervously stammering the words, “You’d like me to point to Andrew in the picture? Uh…can I plead the fifth? I’ve seen in done in the films.” I will say this: there’s definitely a Pizza Express employee or two who are wondering if they should ask for time off now, or closer to late 2022.
Pic: BBC Two