A Manhattan federal court judge ruled on Wednesday that a lawsuit brought by the longtime Prince Andrew accuser Virginia Giuffre can move forward.
Giuffre has long said the late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his then girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell, herself recently convicted of sex trafficking, forced her into sex with Prince Andrew when she was 17.
Giuffre filed a civil suit against Andrew on 9 August last year, using a New York state law that provides a window for survivors of childhood sexual abuse to sue, even if the alleged crimes took place outside the statute of limitations.
Prince Andrew vehemently denies the allegations. His lawyers tried to get Giuffre’s lawsuit dismissed on grounds including a $500,000 settlement with Epstein in 2009; an argument that the law under which Giuffre sued was unconstitutional; and the contention that Giuffre’s claims were too vague.
Here is what to expect next.
An appeal is on the table
Andrew could file for a motion of reconsideration or he could take his appeal straight to the second circuit court of appeals.
In that instance, a panel of judges would hear the case. If that didn’t go in Andrew’s favor, he could ask the full second circuit to hear the case or he could immediately ask the US supreme court to hear it. The supreme court would decide if it did.
Any appeal would delay proceedings.
Evidence will be exchanged
On 4 January, Kaplan ordered that discovery – “the formal process of exchanging information between the parties about the witnesses and evidence they’ll present at trial” – would continue.
“Discovery enables the parties to know before the trial begins what evidence may be presented,” the American Bar Association explains. “It’s designed to prevent ‘trial by ambush’, where one side doesn’t learn of the other side’s evidence or witnesses until the trial, when there’s no time to obtain answering evidence.”
Discovery includes depositions and interviews under oath. Both sides could also be subject to subpoenas requiring them to turn over records or documents.
A settlement is possible
Both sides could agree to a settlement that would bring proceedings to a close.
Deadlines should be taken with a grain of salt
On 25 October, Kaplan issued a scheduling order. Expert witnesses must be disclosed by 13 May. Rebuttal witnesses must be disclosed a month later. The order also states that discovery must be complete by 14 July. Both sides have to file a joint pretrial proposal by 28 July. This will include whether either side wants a trial by jury and if so, questions for potential jurors.
This in no way means the case will progress according to those deadlines.
Mitchell Garabedian has represented victims of sexual abuse for decades, settling more than 2,000 clergy abuse cases.
He said: “If the parties decide not to settle … there will be intense litigation in which depositions will take place of Prince Andrew and Virginia Giuffre” as well as witnesses.
“The deadlines are a guideline. Usually in these cases, one deposition leads to another unexpected deposition and so on, for both parties. If all parties are acting in good faith, and working diligently, and there’s a reasonable need for an extension of deadlines, judges usually grant those extensions.”
Litigation will be extensive
Prince Andrew, Garabedian said, “is going to try to show that the allegations are not true, and in order to do so, he is going to use standard discovery tools – such as depositions, production of documents, investigations, speaking to collateral sources.
“Ms Giuffre will be doing the same. In addition, she will have to reveal the history of her entire life, since she’s claiming emotional distress. In other words, they’ll be looking at all of her records – involving education, hospitalization, therapy, employment, criminal or lack of criminal records, many many records – and they’ll be speaking to sources who might testify in Prince Andrew’s favor, but who’ve known Ms Giuffre.”
Other victims could testify
Giuffre has been accused of luring at least one victim into Epstein’s orbit. Carolyn, who testified at Maxwell’s trial, said Giuffre brought her to his Palm Beach home.
Garabedian said there’s “no doubt” other victims could be deposed in Giuffre’s case either to speak about Giuffre or to speak to “pattern and practice”.
“It’s up to the judge if he or she is going to allow that testimony,” Garabedian said, adding that “there will be a lot of filings” involving depositions and possible trial testimony.
Lawyers will fight over whether depositions should be permitted, and whether witnesses should be allowed to testify.
As for Prince Andrew’s testimony…
“I think it would be a serious mistake for Prince Andrew not to testify – he’s a party and if he doesn’t testify it’s an elephant in a room,” Garabedian said. “If he choses just not to testify, then a jury’s going to be wondering why he hasn’t.”
If Prince Andrew were called to testify but didn’t show up, his deposition could be used in lieu of live testimony.
Could this lawsuit spur criminal proceedings?
Garabedian said prosecutors are “very interested” in seeing evidence in civil cases.
However, when asked if there was a strong nexus between the Giuffre civil proceedings and any criminal investigation, a longtime defense attorney, Julie Rendelman, said: “I think they’re completely separate. I believe that [Maxwell] is the final piece in terms of criminal charges involving Epstein.”
Rendelman pointed out that prosecutors have been investigating Epstein and adjacent persons for some time.
“I’m pretty confident prosecutors spent this time evaluating every piece of evidence to see if there is anything else,” Rendelman said. “I think they realized the strongest case is Ghislaine, and that’s what they went for.”
Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organisations. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 802 9999. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html