By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Britain’s Prince Andrew has been served in the United States with a sexual assault lawsuit by a woman who said his conduct occurred around when his friend Jeffrey Epstein was sexually abusing her, court papers show.

Lawyers for Virginia Giuffre filed a U.S. District Court filing in Manhattan. They stated that they had sent the civil suit to Andrew Brettler, based in Los Angeles (NYSE:) and received both copies by Monday morning.

Federal rules give the Duke of York 21 days to reply or face default judgment. Giuffre’s lawyers claimed that they had previously served Andrew in Britain, Queen Elizabeth’s second-born son.

Andrew’s lawyers strongly refute Giuffre’s allegations. The charges against the 61 year-old prince are not yet filed. Giuffre is suing for unspecified damages in his Aug. 9 suit.

Brettler didn’t immediately reply to our request for comment.

Giuffre (38) claimed Andrew made her have sex at Epstein’s London home with Ghislaine Maxwell, her longtime partner.

Andrew was also accused of abusing her around the same period in Epstein’s Manhattan home and Epstein’s island on U.S. Virgin Islands.

Epstein, who was also a financier, committed sex offences, and was currently awaiting his trial for sex traficking charges, took his own life in Manhattan’s jails in August 2019.

Giuffre filed a lawsuit under New York’s Child Victims Act. It is a law that gives victims of childhood sexual abuse an opportunity to sue the perpetrators for their conduct over many years and decades ago. After the expiration of the deadline, Giuffre was allowed to file suit.

U.S. district judge Lewis Kaplan has instructed Giuffre and his attorneys to stop focusing on technicalities. Instead, he urged them to concentrate on the substance of Giuffre’s case.

Kaplan stated that she could see legal costs being spent, time wasted and delays which may ultimately not prove to be very productive.

Maxwell has pleaded no guilty to charges that she assisted Epstein in grooming and recruiting underage girls. Maxwell’s trial begins Nov. 29.