(Photo by John Lamparski/Getty Images for Hulu)
It took awhile, but Professor Alan Dershowitz has finally gotten some good news, however tentative, in the looming defamation case brought against him by a sex trafficking victim of Dershowitz’s buddy and former client Jeffrey Epstein.
To recap, a few of Epstein’s underaged victims claim that Epstein directed them to have sex with Dershowitz. Dershowitz strenuously denies the claim and goes on television demanding that his accusers take him to court if they really believe these claims. So one of his accusers has taken him to court.
Dershowitz kicked off the proceedings by immediately moving to have Boies Schiller, the pro bono attorneys for the now-adult woman, disqualified. This move took her attorneys aback since the filing violated all manner of Judge Preska’s individual rules and was promptly struck from the docket.
But Dershowitz’s attorneys wrote a letter in an effort to cure the situation, asking for a pre-motion conference to get the motion heard. Upon hearing from Boies Schiller, Judge Preska has determined that a pre-motion conference would be a waste of her time given the clearly unresolvable conflict and asked the parties to set up a briefing schedule.
So, the good news is that Dershowitz will have his disqualification motion heard. The bad news is that there’s no guarantee how Judge Preska will take it. The original motion was 28 pages long — exceeding Judge Preska’s page limit, naturally — but BSF’s initial response (not even a full brief) clocked in at 3 pages and seemed fairly compelling in that short span. You can check out the original motion here and BSF’s response here for comparison.
We’ll see how this turns out.
In the meantime, the Second Circuit also got in on the act yesterday, filing a curt:
Appellant Alan M. Dershowitz’s submission of a letter does not comply with the Court’s prescribed filing requirements. Despite due notice, the defect has not been cured.
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the said letter is stricken from the docket.
When it rains, it pours a never-ending stream of misfilings apparently.
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.
Earlier: Dershowitz’s Motion To Disqualify Boies Schiller Immediately Dumped For Hilarious Reason
Harvard Law School’s Dershowitz Moves To Disqualify Boies Schiller In Sex Trafficking Case
Dershowitz Wanted A Trial Over Sex Trafficking Accusations — He’s Getting One