In a Nevada lawsuit filed June 13, nine women including former model Janice Dickinson, accused Bill Cosby of sexual assault, adding to the 85-year-old actor and comedian’s legal woes after he was released from prison two years ago after a court overturned his conviction for criminal assault.
Just like other states, a new Nevada law lifted the statute of limitations for civil claims of sexual abuse involving adults making the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada possible.
The case comes only two weeks after Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo (R) signed SB129 into law, which allows plaintiffs to seek civil action for alleged sexual assault in the state regardless of how long ago it occurred.
The women, at least some of whom have previously publicly accused Cosby, allege that between 1979 and 1992, the “Cosby Show” star “used his enormous power, fame and prestige” to isolate them under the guise of helping them or their careers.
According to the court filing, Cosby would drugged or attempted to drug his alleged female victims before sexually assaulting them.
When The Washington Post contacted Cosby’s attorney and spokesperson, Andrew Wyatt, he did not immediately, but in a statement, he informed other media sites that Cosby’s accusers have an “addiction to massive amounts of media attention and greed.”
Dickinson first made the allegations of Cosby in her 2012 memoir, “No Lifeguard on Duty: Tales from the Life of a Top Model.”
In 2014, she gave a televised interview in which she repeated the allegations. Cosby denied the allegations, and no criminal charges were ever filed. However, Dickinson filed a civil lawsuit against Cosby in 2015, alleging defamation. The lawsuit was settled in 2018.
“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 the courtroom,” Wyatt said.
When a Pennsylvania jury found Cosby guilty in 2018 of sexually assaulting Andrea Constand, an employee at his alma mater Temple University in Philadelphia, in 2004, he became the first celebrity to be convicted in the #MeToo era.
Cosby’s reputation has been marred with accusations of sexual assault since, and women of his past seem to not be afraid to come out with their truth.
Lili Bernard, one of the Nevada plaintiffs, has also sued Cosby in New Jersey under a similar legislation for an alleged attack in 1990.
A California jury found Cosby guilty of sexually assaulting adolescent Judy Huth at the Playboy Mansion in 1975 and sentenced him to pay her $500,000.
