Amid criminal case, Cosby fighting lawsuits by 10 women

NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) — As Bill Cosby awaits a verdict in his sexual assault case in Pennsylvania, the comedian’s civil lawyers are fighting civil lawsuits against him by 10 women around the country.

Currently, seven women have defamation suits pending in Massachusetts, while three more have defamation or sexual battery suits pending in California. Cosby has denied any wrongdoing.

The criminal case against Cosby partly stems from the accuser’s related civil lawsuit. Prosecutors reopened a criminal investigation and filed charges in 2015 after Cosby’s deposition in the woman’s 2005 lawsuit was unsealed, and they realized the 12-year statute of limitations for felony sexual assault had not yet expired.

The jury in Bill Cosby’s sex assault trial wants to know what “without her knowledge” means in one of the three counts they’re weighing against the comedian. This comes as Cosby’s spokesman told reporters about a witness who could not testify. (June 13)

A recap of the pending civil cases:

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CALIFORNIA

Cosby is being sued in Los Angeles by Judy Huth, who accuses the comedian of forcing her to perform a sex act on him in a bedroom of the Playboy Mansion around 1974, when she was 15. A trial date may be set later this month for the sexual battery case. Cosby has given a sealed deposition in the case. Huth’s lawyer, Gloria Allred, says the scheduling of a second deposition is on hold because of the criminal trial.

Chloe Goins, a former model who claims Cosby drugged and sexually abused her at the Playboy Mansion in 2008, is also suing the comedian on sexual battery and other claims. Prosecutors rejected filing a case against Cosby based on Goins’ allegations, which they said investigators could not corroborate. A judge recently denied Cosby’s motion to dismiss the case and a trial has been scheduled for June 2018.

The comedian also faces a defamation lawsuit by model Janice Dickinson, who claims Cosby drugged and raped her in Lake Tahoe, California, in 1982. Cosby is appealing a ruling allowing Dickinson’s case to proceed.

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MASSACHUSETTS

Seven women are suing Cosby for defamation in separate lawsuits pending in Massachusetts, where Cosby has a home in Shelburne Falls. They say he sexually abused them decades ago, and then defamed them after they went public by having his agents deny the claims and brand them liars.

An eighth woman had withdrawn her lawsuit. And a federal judge dismissed a ninth accuser’s case, finding her complaint inadequate.

The remaining plaintiffs are Tamara Green, Therese Serignese, Linda Traitz, Louisa Moritz, Barbara Bowman, Joan Tarshis and Angela Leslie. Cosby is seeking to have their cases dismissed. Serignese and Bowman have been attending the criminal trial near Philadelphia.

Source: www.apnews.com