A judge has ruled that Prince Andrew is set to face a civil sex case trial after a US judge dismissed a motion by the royal's legal team to have the lawsuit thrown out, BBC News reports.
The Duke of York believes he should not face legal action with regards to allegations linked to deceased pedophile Jeffrey Epstein because of an agreement Virginia Giuffre, 38, had made with him back in 2009.
Giuffre, nee Roberts, 38, claims that she was sexually assaulted by the Queen's second son three times: once in New York City, once in London at Maxwell's home, and once on Epstein's private island, known as Little St. James, in the US Virgin Islands.
The 38-year-old filed a lawsuit in New York back in August. Prince Andrew has denied all allegations against him.
Judge Lewis A Kaplan dismissed an application from the Duke's lawyers to have the case dismissed, which is likely to result in a high-profile case in September over Giuffre's sensational allegations against the British royal.
Judge Lewis Kaplan said an agreement in the civil settlement between Jeffrey Epstein and Virginia Giuffre "cannot be said" to benefit him.
In his ruling, he explained: "The 2009 Agreement cannot be said to demonstrate, clearly and unambiguously, the parties intended the instrument ‘directly,’ ‘primarily,’ or ‘substantially,’ to benefit Prince Andrew.
"The existence of the requisite intent to benefit him, or others comparable to him, is an issue of fact that could not properly be decided on this motion even if defendant fell within the releasing language, which itself is ambiguous.
"Thus, independent of whether the release language applies to Prince Andrew, the agreement, at a minimum, is 'reasonably susceptible to more than one interpretation' on the equally important question of whether this defendant may invoke it.
"The fact that the defendant has brought the matter before the Court on a motion to dismiss the complaint as legally insufficient is of central importance."
The judge went on, per BBC: "As is well known to lawyers, but perhaps not known to the lay public, the defendant, by making this motion, placed upon the court the unyielding duty to assume, for the purposes of this motion only, the truth of all of the plaintiff’s allegations and to draw in plaintiff’s favor all inferences that reasonably may be drawn from those allegations.
"In consequence, the law prohibits the Court from considering at this stage of the proceedings defendant’s efforts to cast doubt on the truth of Ms Giuffre’s allegations, even though his efforts would be permissible at trial.
"In a similar vein and for similar reasons, it is not open to the Court now to decide, as a matter of fact, just what the parties to the release in the 2009 settlement agreement signed by Ms Giuffre and Jeffrey Epstein actually meant."
Maxwell, 60, has been found guilty of helping the late financier Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse teenage girls.
The socialite was found guilty of five federal charges, including sex trafficking of a minor, transporting a minor with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, and three related counts of conspiracy.
Giuffre alleges she was trafficked by Epstein to have sex with Andrew when she was 17, which made her a minor under US law.
She is seeking unspecified damages in a civil suit against Andrew, but the sum could reportedly be in the millions of dollars.
Andrew, who has not been charged with any criminal offenses, has vehemently denied all the allegations against him.
Judge Kaplan had appeared mostly dismissive of oral arguments by Prince Andrew's legal team to have the case dismissed.
