Five women, including two actresses who guest-starred on The Cosby Show, filed a lawsuit against actor Bill Cosby on Monday, accusing the star of sexual assault and abuse that goes back decades.
Actresses Lili Bernard and Eden Tirl joined three other women in the 34-page lawsuit that was filed in the New York state court, which accuses Cosby of assault, battery, infliction of emotional distress, and false imprisonment. NBCUniversal Media, Kaufman Astoria Studios, the Carsey-Werner Company, and Cosby are listed as defendants, with the media companies accused of negligence.
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“Each plaintiff was sexually assaulted and battered by defendant Bill Cosby in the same or similar manner when he used his power, fame, and prestige, including the power, fame and prestige given to him by [the] defendants … to misuse his enormous power in such a nefarious, horrific way,” the suit said, according to CNN. “Now, these five Plaintiffs have come forward to stand up for themselves and others, after they were sexually abused and assaulted by Bill Cosby.”
The lawsuit alleges that Cosby drugged and raped Bernard in New Jersey and Nevada in 1990 and at his Manhattan home in 1991. Bernard played Mrs. Minifield on The Cosby Show. Tirl claimed that Cosby inappropriately touched her without her consent in his dressing room in 1989. Tirl played a police officer on the show. The earliest accuser, Cindra Ladd, claimed she was drugged and raped by Cosby in 1969.
A spokesman for Cosby denied the allegations and claimed the “frivolous” lawsuit proved the accusers were after money instead of justice.
“As we have always stated and now America see that this isn’t about justice for victims of alleged sexual assault but it’s ALL ABOUT MONEY,” Cosby spokesman Andrew Wyatt told CNN. “We believe that the courts as well as the court of public opinion will follow the rules of law and relieve Mr. Cosby of these alleged accusations. Mr. Cosby continues to vehemently deny all allegation waged against him and looks forward to defending himself in court.”
More than 50 women have come forward with sexual assault allegations against the comedian, detailing that Cosby gave them drugs to incapacitate them or assaulted, abused, or raped them and then pressured them to stay silent. Cosby, who was a powerhouse name in the entertainment industry, was convicted of sexual assault in 2018. However, the conviction was overturned by an appeals court in Pennsylvania last year.
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One accuser, Judy Huth, was awarded $500,000 in damages earlier this year after a jury found Cosby guilty of sexually assaulting Huth in 1975. Huth claimed Cosby had molested her, exposed himself to her, tried to put his hand down her pants, and used her hand to touch him in a sexual manner in a blue room at the Playboy Mansion when she was 16 years old. The case was one of the last legal claims against Cosby.
The new lawsuit was filed under New York’s new Adult Survivors Act, which gives adult sexual assault survivors a one-year window to sue their alleged perpetrator even after the statute of limitations ends.
