Prince Andrew renews attempt to get Giuffre suit dismissed
Prince Andrew's lawyers asked a U.S. court again Wednesday to throw out a lawsuit accusing him of sexual abuse, citing multiple legal defences.
Among them: The lawyers said that if any sexual activity did occur between the prince and Virginia Giuffre, it was consensual.
The court filing made clear that Andrew wasn't admitting sexual contact with Giuffre. But it said if the case wasn't dismissed, the defence wants a trial in which it would argue that her abuse claims “are barred by the doctrine of consent.”
Attorney David Boies, representing Giuffre, responsed in a statement asserting Andrew “continues his approach of denying any knowledge or information concerning the claims against him, and purporting to blame the victim of the abuse for somehow bringing it on herself.”
The defence request was filed in federal court in Manhattan, where Giuffre sued Andrew in August. The American accused the British royal of sexually abusing her when she was 17 while she traveled with financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Andrew has strenuously denied Giuffre's allegations and attempted to get the lawsuit tossed. Earlier this month, Judge Lewis A. Kaplan rejected his attempt to win an early dismissal, allowing depositions and other evidence gathering by both parties to move forward.
Wednesday's response was filed by Los Angeles attorneys Andrew Brettler and Melissa Lerner. They say the suit should also be dismissed on several other grounds, arguing the civil litigation against the prince should be barred because Giuffre is a permanent resident of Australia and bound by a settlement between Epstein and Giuffre.
Giuffre asserted that she met Andrew while she traveled frequently with Epstein between 2000 and 2002, when her lawyers maintain she was “on call for Epstein for sexual purposes” and was “lent out to other powerful men,” including Andrew. Her lawsuit said she still suffers significant emotional and psychological distress and harm.
In the wake of the judge's decision earlier in January, Prince Andrew - who had already stepped back from royal duties - was stripped of his honorary military titles.
Epstein, 66, took his own life in a Manhattan federal lockup in August 2019 while he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges. Giuffre has also leveled allegations at Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's longtime companion, but was not part of the criminal case that ended recently with Maxwell's conviction on sex trafficking charges.
The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they choose to come forward publicly, as Giuffre has.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Lifeline for woman with disabilities approved for medically assisted death after 'mind-blowing, inspiring' support
A 31-year-old disabled Toronto woman who was conditionally approved for a medically assisted death after a fruitless bid for safe housing says her life has been 'changed' by an outpouring of support after telling her story.

School police chief receives blame in Texas shooting response
The police official blamed for not sending officers in more quickly to stop the Uvalde, Texas, school shooting is the chief of the school system's small police force, a unit dedicated ordinarily to building relationships with students and responding to the occasional fight.
'Mom, you gotta carry on': 58-year-old Winnipegger inspired to graduate high school by late son
Fifty-eight-year-old Vivian Ketchum is set to receive her high school diploma at a graduation ceremony at the University of Winnipeg next month. It is a moment that is decades in the making.
Truth tracker: Does the World Economic Forum influence governments like Canada's?
The World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos was met with justifiable criticisms and unfounded conspiracy theories.
Calling social conservatives dinosaurs was 'wrong terminology', says Patrick Brown
Federal Conservative leadership candidate Patrick Brown says calling social conservatives 'dinosaurs' in a book he wrote about his time in Ontario politics was 'the wrong terminology.'
Fact check: NRA speakers distort gun and crime statistics
Speakers at the National Rifle Association annual meeting assailed a Chicago gun ban that doesn't exist, ignored security upgrades at the Texas school where children were slaughtered and roundly distorted national gun and crime statistics as they pushed back against any tightening of gun laws.
She smeared blood on herself and played dead: 11-year-old reveals chilling details of the massacre
An 11-year-old survivor of the Robb Elementary School massacre in Uvalde, Texas, feared the gunman would come back for her so she smeared herself in her friend's blood and played dead.
Quebec mosque shooter ruling could affect parole eligibility in other high-profile cases
The Supreme Court of Canada’s ruling allowing the Quebec City mosque shooter to be eligible for parole after 25 years is raising concern for more than a dozen similar cases.
Feds aiming to address airport 'bottlenecks' in time for summer travel season
Transport Minister Omar Alghabra says the federal government is working with groups on the ground to resolve air travel 'bottlenecks' in time for a busy summer.