Prince Andrew ‘s hopes of getting the case by his US sex accuser thrown out of court were hanging by a thread last night following a ‘brutal’ hearing in New York. A judge told the royal he would find out ‘pretty soon’ – most likely within days – if his bid to have the lawsuit dismissed would be successful.
But the early signs were not good for the Queen ‘s son after Judge Lewis Kaplan put his legal team through a bruising encounter during a make-or-break hearing in New York yesterday.
One legal expert said that the hearing ‘could not have gone worse’ and pointed out that the fact that his lawyers were reduced to saying they ‘respectfully disagree’ with the judge did not bode well- adding ‘respectfully disagreeing with the judge means you are about to lose.’
Andrew’s lawyer was seeking to persuade the court that his accuser, Virginia Roberts , had waived her right to sue him when she signed an earlier £370,000 ($500,000) legal settlement with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein , the duke’s friend.
