Nine women filed a sexual assault lawsuit against Bill Cosby in the state of Nevada on Wednesday, just weeks after the state passed a law eliminating the statute of limitations for civil cases.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court of Nevada, accuses Cosby of using his “enormous power, fame and prestige” to isolate and sexually assault each of the nine women named in the lawsuit.
The women suing Cosby are Janice Dickinson, Lise-Lotte Lublin, Janice Baker Kinney, Lili Bernard, Heidi Thomas, Linda Kirpatrick, Rebecca Cooper, Pam Joy Abeyta and Angela Leslie.
NBC News Daily anchor Kate Snow will have an exclusive interview with some of the women, which will air Thursday.
Cosby has been publicly accused of sexual abuses ranging from groping to rape by more than 60 women, many of whom have allegations that are decades old but are being revived as states change statutes defining how courts handle sexual misconduct cases.
Andrew Wyatt, Cosby’s spokesperson, accused the women suing the comedian of being motivated by 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 … against Mr. Cosby anymore without vetting them in the court of public opinion and inside of the courtroom,” Wyatt said in a statement.
The 85-year-old comedian has consistently denied all allegations of sexual abuse.
Cosby has no criminal convictions but was found civilly liable in 2022 of molesting Judy Huth at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles in 1975, when she was 16. His attorneys called her a liar.
Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo signed SB129 on May 31, which eliminated the civil statute of limitations in sexual abuse cases involving adults. Before that, the state had a two-year cutoff for adults to bring forth their cases in court.
Lotte Lublin, a Nevada native, is one of the women named in the suit. She and other Cosby accusers advocated for the new legislation that made this new civil claim possible.
Lublin has publicly accused Cosby of drugging her at a hotel in Las Vegas in 1989, alleging that she met him at his room so that he could evaluate her acting with an improvisation. According to the lawsuit, Cosby gave her two drinks that he said would “help her relax,” but caused her to feel disoriented and he embraced her a short time after.
Cosby grabbed her wrists and held them between his legs, touching her hair as he masturbated, the suit said. Lublin alleged that she was dragged into a bedroom and assaulted, the suit said.
Janice Baker-Kinney was invited to a party at Cosby’s home in Reno, Nevada, in 1982, the lawsuit said, but when she arrived Cosby was home alone. According to her account, Cosby offered her what she believed were barbiturates and lost consciousness.
She briefly woke up with her pants undone and Cosby’s hand in her open blouse before Cosby moved her to a bedroom, the lawsuit said. When Baker-Kinney next gained consciousness, she was naked in bed with Cosby and he was groping her, according to the lawsuit.
Baker-Kinney testified against Cosby in 2018 during his Pennsylvania criminal case, where he was charged with three felony counts of aggravated indecent assault. Cosby was initially convicted in the 2018 trial of drugging and assaulting Andrea Constand in 2004, but Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court vacated his conviction in 2021. The court found that he was denied protection against self-incrimination.
Thomas also testified in the Constand case, saying he flew her to his home in Reno under the pretense of helping her career. The lawsuit says that she traveled from Denver in 1984 with the impression that Cosby was going to offer her a mentoring session.
After struggling with performing a scene portraying an intoxicated character, Cosby offered Thomas an alcoholic beverage to help her, the lawsuit said. She sipped the drink, lost consciousness and woke up to Cosby assaulting her, according to the lawsuit.
Bernard met Cosby in 1990 and he offered to mentor her, the lawsuit said.
Cosby asked her to travel to Las Vegas in the fall of 1990, where Bernard was promised a meeting with producers for “A Different World” but was drugged while consuming a non-alcoholic beverage, the suit said. She joined Cosby in his hotel suite for a “mentoring session,” according to the suit.
Bernard says she drank what she was told was non-alcoholic sparkling cider, but now believes that Cosby spiked the beverage. She later woke up naked, with Cosby naked by her feet and told Cosby that she did not want to have sex, the suit said. Cosby raped her and she was unable to stop him because of the drink she consumed, the suit said.
Bernard is one of five women who sued Cosby in New York in December, accusing him of sexual assault in New York after she met him on the set of “The Cosby Show.” His representatives have denied the allegations.
The other women in the lawsuit have also similarly alleged that Cosby drugged them before assaulting them.
- Kirkpatrick alleges that she met Cosby in 1981 while playing tennis in Las Vegas, where he invited her to a show. She alleges that he gave her a beverage backstage at his show and blacked out shortly after drinking it. Kirkpatrick woke up on the floor of Cosby’s dressing room with Cosby on top of her and assaulting her, according to the lawsuit.
- Cooper met Cosby at a health club where she worked as a massage therapist, the lawsuit said. Cosby invited her to dinner and one of his shows, and also asked for her services to help with a tennis injury, according to the suit. Cooper was offered a drink that she now believes was spiked. She began having trouble walking on the way to his dressing room and alleges that Cosby raped her.
- Dickinson was invited by Cosby to Lake Tahoe to discuss work opportunities in 1982, the lawsuit said. Cosby offered Dickinson a pill while they were out to dinner after Dickinson complained of cramps, according to the suit. She felt disoriented and dizzy shortly after, and went to Cosby’s suite with him. Dickson says there, Cosby raped her while he ignored her pleas for him to stop, the suit said.
- Leslie was invited to Las Vegas by Cosby in the late 1980s or early 1990s, after expressing a desire to mentor her acting career, according to the lawsuit. Leslie was offered a drink by Cosby while at a suite where they were working on an acting exercise, the suit said. Cosby allegedly covered Leslie’s hand in lotion and forced it onto his genitals. Leslie fought him off when he tried to climb on top of her, the lawsuit said, and later told her to leave because he had a phone call.
- Abeyta traveled with a friend from California to Las Vegas in 1979 and was introduced to Cosby in his dressing room after one of his shows, the suit said. She was invited to attend a dinner show with Cosby and others the next evening, where she was “provided with a beverage,” according to the lawsuit. When Abeyta began to feel dizzy, she was assisted back to Cosby’s suite where he joined her after the dinner show. Cosby then “put a pill” in her mouth without her consent, the suit said. She woke up later in Cosby’s bedroom with him naked, on top of her, and recalls the bed being wet, the suit said. Abeyta alleges that Cosby gave her another pill when she regained consciousness and woke to bruises on her legs.
Cosby is also facing a civil lawsuit in California, filed earlier this month by former Playboy model Victoria Valentino. She has accused Cosby of drugging her and raping her in 1969, which he has also denied.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
