Bill Cosby Faces New Lawsuit by Nine Women Alleging Sexual Assault
Bill Cosby faces a new sexual assault lawsuit, this one in the state of Nevada. A case in the name of nine women was filed in the U.S. District Court for Nevada, alleging that the disgraced actor and comedian exercised his “enormous power, fame and prestige” to isolate and sexually assault the individuals named in the case.
Per NBC News, a group of the women will speak in an interview on “NBC News Daily” on Thursday. Pam Joy Abeyta, Lili Bernard, Rebecca Cooper, Janice Dickinson, Linda Kirkpatrick, Janice Baker Kinney, Angela Leslie, Lise-Lotte Lublin and Heidi Thomas are named in the case.
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Cosby was convicted of a criminal sexual assault charge in Pennsylvania in April 2018. However, in 2021, the actor was released from prison after spending nearly three years behind the bars; the conviction was overturned by the state Supreme Court. The actor, now 85 years old, has discussed plans for a comedy tour.
In a statement to Variety, Cosby’s spokesperson, Andrew Wyatt, confirms the new lawsuit and opposes the claims detailed in it. Cosby has continued to deny similar allegations levied against him over the years.
“It’s interesting that these ‘Look Back Windows’ are formulating only in those states (New Jersey, New York, Los Angeles and Nevada) where many of Mr. Cosby’s alleged accusers reside. It makes all Americans ask the question, ‘Who’s funding these alleged accusers and who’s funding these lawmakers?'” Wyatt wrote. “Mr. Cosby is a Citizen of [the] United States, but these judges and lawmakers are consistently allowing these civil suits to flood their dockets — knowing that these women are not fighting for victims — but for their addiction to massive amounts of media attention and greed. From this day forward, we will not continue to allow these women to parade various accounts of an alleged allegation against Mr. Cosby anymore without vetting them in the court of public opinion and inside of the courtroom.”
More than 60 women have made public statements accusing Cosby of varying degrees of sexual misconduct. Though the events of these allegations are many years old, lawsuits similar to this one have emerged as states have altered statutes defining how courts field sexual misconduct cases. At the end of May, Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo signed a law eliminating the statute of limitations for state civil cases, including sexual abuse cases involving adults. Prior to that, Nevada enforced a two-year cutoff for alleged victims to bring cases to court.
Named in the Nevada suit, Dickinson has been one of the most prominent voices among women accusing Cosby of sexual abuse. In 2018, the reality TV star and model testified that Cosby drugged and raped her in 1982.
Bernard, who is also included in the new case, was among five women named in a New York sexual assault lawsuit filed against Cosby last December. The actor, who formerly guest starred on “The Cosby Show,” first made allegations against Cosby in 2015 and filed a separate suit in 2017. Bernard has been a public supporter of survivors through some of the most prominent cases of the #MeToo movement. The actor attended Harvey Weinstein’s Los Angeles trial in Los Angeles, as well as a civil trial against Cosby in June 2022 at the Santa Monica courthouse. The case concluded with a jury ordering Cosby to pay $500,000 to Judy Huth for sexually assaulting her in 1975. Huth was 16 years old at the time.
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