[imagesource: Jae Donnelly/News UK]

Shame, poor Prince Andrew.

The royal is currently scuttling from one of his mother’s properties to the next, doing his utmost to avoid taking any responsibility for his past actions.

Thank goodness his mother is the Queen, and her properties are sprawling castles and estates dotted across the UK.

Nobody wants to be 61 and hiding out in mom’s basement.

Ever since the Duke’s US lawyer, Andrew Brettler, has entered the picture, there’s been a slight change of approach with regards to the civil lawsuit brought against him in the US by Virginia Roberts Giuffre.

She alleges that Prince Andrew raped her on three occasions when she was 17.

So what’s the latest development? We head to The Telegraph:

[Prince Andrew] has suffered an early setback in his US sex assault case after a judge refused to unseal a document that could invalidate the damages claim.

[He] is said to be pinning his hopes on the settlement – signed by his long time accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre in 2009 – which allegedly prevents her from suing.

Image: Florida Southern District Court

It came as Ms Giuffre’s lawyer, David Boies, warned him to accept the lawsuit, saying: “Service is not intended to be a game of hide and seek behind palace walls.”

…Brettler, told a pre-trial hearing on Monday that he believed the agreement Ms Giuffe made with Jeffrey Epstein released the Duke and others from “any and all potential liability”.

The judge’s refusal to unseal that document is certainly bad news for Prince Andrew.

In order to request a copy, his legal team would now have to engage in their own court process, which would mean legally accepting that he has been served the lawsuit.

Part of the reason he has been hiding out has been to avoid being served. Giuffre’s lawyers argue they have already done that, by leaving a copy of the lawsuit with a police officer guarding the prince’s home in Windsor.

It was also posted to his lawyer’s office and sent by email.

His legal team is currently using every trick in the book:

In a move that risks exasperating New York federal judge Lewis Kaplan, his solicitor Gary Bloxsome claimed on Thursday that due process had still not been followed…

Mr Bloxsome said in order to comply with the Hague convention, a British court official had to deliver the paperwork.

What a coward.

Judge Preska did say that Prince Andrew may have “valid reasons” for trying to obtain the 2009 agreement Giuffre signed with Jeffrey Epstein, but added that he would have to do so through the discovery process in his own case.

[source:telegraph]