Will Meghan Markle be called to speak at Andrew’s civil trial?
‘She is somebody we can count on to tell the truth,’ attorney David Boises says
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Your support makes all the difference.Meghan Markle could be called as a witness in Prince Andrew’s sexual assault lawsuit, according to Virginia Giuffre’s attorney.
David Boise told The Daily Beast last month that Ms Markle may have “important knowledge” of allegations that Andrew abused his Ms Giuffre three times when she was 17.
Judge Lewis Kaplan ruled on Wednesday that Ms Giuffre’s civil lawsuit alleging she suffered battery and intentional emotional damage could move forward. Andrew has strongly denied the claims against him.
“She is somebody we can count on to tell the truth,” Mr Boies told the news site in an interview in December.
Ms Markle, who is married to Andrew’s nephew Harry, was a “close companion to Prince Andrew and therefore probably saw what he did,” the attorney said.
The decision by Judge Kaplan allows Ms Giuffre’s lawyers to proceed to a discovery phase prior to a trial being held, where they can seek Andrew’s private communications, compel him to sit for a deposition, and seek testimony from Andrew’s family members.
Mr Boies cited three reasons why Ms Markle could provide compelling testimony to back up for Ms Giuffre’s claims.
“One; she is in the US so we have jurisdiction over her. Two; she is somebody who obviously, at least for a period of time, was a close associate of Prince Andrew and hence is in a position to perhaps have seen what he did, and perhaps if not to have seen what he did to have heard people talk about it,” Mr Boise said.
“Three; she is somebody who we can count on, to tell the truth. She checks all three boxes,” the lawyer added.
In a statement to The Independent after Wednesday’s ruling, Mr Boise said: “Virginia Giuffre is, of course, pleased that Prince Andrew’s motion to dismiss has been denied, and that evidence will now be taken concerning her claims against him.
“She looks forward to a judicial determination of the merits of those claims.”
Mr Boise said last month they would seek depositions from “one or two” people close to him, such as his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson and Prince Charles.
But he ruled out asking to depose his mother Queen Elizabeth.
“I don’t think, out of respect and deference, and her age, we would seek to depose the Queen. I don’t think she is going to have any knowledge that other people don’t have. I think that he is unlikely to have spoken as freely to his mother about some of this stuff as he might have to his contemporaries or his ex-wife.”
Buckingham Palace declined to comment on Judge Kaplan’s ruling.
Los Angeles-based Mr Boies is a high-profile litigator who has represented Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes and Harvey Weinstein.
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