His Royal Highness Prince Andrew’s lawyer in Los Angeles has been served with legal papers notifying the member of Britain’s Royal Family of a civil lawsuit in the United States, accusing the Duke of sexual assaulting a teenager.
The lawsuit claims that Prince Andrew sexually assaulted alleged Jeffery Epsilon victim Virginia Giuffre, 38, who was underage at the time of the alleged attack. Ms Giuffre, 38, has accused the prince of committing battery and intentionally inflicting emotional distress upon her.
Guiffre said that she was forced to have sex with the Duke when she was 17-years-old at properties owned by deceased paedophile Jeffrey Epstein in Manhattan and the infamous island in the Caribbean, as well as in London.
Prince Andrew has stridently denied having sex with the teenager, saying in 2019: “It didn’t happen”.
A legal summons and complaint papers were sent by FedEx and email on Monday to Prince Andrew’s American lawyer Andrew B Brettler, of the LA-based Lavely & Singer law firm, Sky News reported.
Papers were also sent to the Royal Courts of Justice in London from a court in New York. He will have 21 days to respond to the claim or face a default judgement.
The Duke of York has been accused of attempting to avoid receiving the legal summons from Guiffre in an apparent attempt to delay legal proceedings.
New York district judge Lewis Kaplan said that Prince Andrew had been “actively evading” being served papers from the alleged victim’s legal team.
After lawyers left the legal notice with a guard at the prince’s residence in Windsor, Giuffre’s legal team said that it was like playing a “game of hide and seek behind palace walls”.
“The powerful and rich are not exempt from being held responsible for their actions. I hope that other victims will see that it is possible not to live in silence and fear, but to reclaim one’s life by speaking out and demanding justice,” Giuffre said last month, announcing her lawsuit.
“I did not come to this decision lightly. As a mother and a wife, my family comes first — and I know that this action will subject me to further attacks by Prince Andrew and his surrogates — but I knew if I did not pursue this action, I would be letting them and victims everywhere down.”
A spokesman for the Prince said that the Duke of York — who is believed to be residing at the Queen’s holiday estate of Balmoral in Scotland — will not be commenting on the latest update in the case.
Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka
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