Rudy Giuliani is ‘very unhealthy,’ says his lawyer, explaining stall of sexual harassment case

Giuliani, accused of forcing an employee into sex, is “confined to a wheelchair” with breathing issues, according to his attorney — despite recent international travel.MANHATTAN (CN) — Lawyers in the $10 million sexual harassment lawsuit against Rudy Giuliani on Wednesday debated the health of the former New York City mayor in an effort to determine how to finally move the three-year-old case closer to trial.The civil case is being brought by Giuliani’s former associate Noelle Dunphy, who claims her then-boss “demanded” sex from her and frequently subjected her to booze- and Viagra-fueled bouts of harassment when she worked for him between 2019 and 2021. Giuliani unsuccessfully prevented the lawsuit from moving forward to discovery earlier this year, but his health has supposedly been a roadblock in advancing the case.According to Giuliani’s lawyer Adam Katz, he is “confined to a wheelchair.”“He’s got some issues breathing,” Katz told a judge on Wednesday.In May, Giuliani was hospitalized in Florida with pneumonia and placed on a ventilator. His condition was so dire that he reportedly received his last rites. That hospitalization came less than a year after he was seriously injured in a car accident in August 2025.“He’s very unhealthy,” Katz said of his client.But the 81-year-old’s health is only more reason for the case to be tried as quickly as possible, according to Dunphy’s lawyer William Robedee.“Mr. Katz suggests those issues are a reason why, for example, Mr. Giuliani cannot be deposed in the fall of this year. I argue the opposite side of that,” Robedee told the judge. “When we have a critical party or witness who’s in his 80s and not in good health, we accelerate capturing the testimony rather than delay it.”He added that he’s tuned into Giuliani’s podcast, where the octogenarian speaks for extended periods of time on a regular basis. Robedee also brought up several examples of Giuliani’s international travels over the past several months.“On the one hand, we’re very concerned about his health,” Robedee said. “On the other hand, we have a person who just last week was addressing the Italian Parliament in Rome, who’s met with the president of Bulgaria.”Giuliani spoke at an international conference at the Italian Parliament on July 16, standing from a podium as he endorsed a dissident Iranian politician. In late May, he accompanied U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle to meet with Bulgarian President Iliana Iotova.“That’s news to me,” said New York Supreme Court Justice Nicholas Moyne, adding, “I don’t follow this man’s every move.”Moyne criticized Giuliani’s defense team, who invoked Giuliani’s health as a potential roadblock in the case but never filed an affidavit from one of his physicians.“You want me to rely on hearsay and news reports to determine your client’s physical condition? That’s not the way it’s done,” said the judge.Moyne set a deadline of Jan. 30, 2027, for Giuliani’s deposition. As the plaintiff, Dunphy will be deposed first; Moyne said that should happen by Dec. 15.Dunphy is seeking $10 million on claims of assault, battery, sexual harassment and hostile work environment. She claims Giuliani, who at the time was President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, went on “alcohol-drenched rants” that sexualized prominent women and contributed to an “unbearable” work environment.According to Dunphy, Giuliani also abused his position as her boss to pressure her into sex. In one instance, she says Giuliani offered her $300,000 if she would forgo her legal rights in a pending case and “fuck me like crazy.”That statement, among others from Giuliani at issue in the case, Dunphy claims she recorded. Dunphy’s team said Wednesday they plan to give those tapes to the defense in the next few months as part of the discovery process.Giuliani wasn’t present at Wednesday’s virtual conference. The last time he attended one, the now-disbarred lawyer had his microphone cut on several occasions as he lobbed attacks against his accuser and spoke out of turn.Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads