UPDATED, 1:10 p.m. Wednesday: Cosby’s attorney, Martin Singer, has responded to Green’s lawsuit, telling TheWrap in a statement, “We are very confident that we will prevail in this proceeding and we will pursue claims against the attorneys who filed this action.”
Previously…
Bill Cosby has found himself in another legal entanglement — this time for denying previous allegations leveled against him.
The comedian, who has been plagued lately by allegations of sexual assault from numerous women, is now being sued by one of his accusers, who says that Cosby defamed her by denying her claims.
The suit was filed in federal court in Massachusetts on Dec. 10 by Tamara Green, who claims that Cosby assaulted her in the early 1970s, when she was an aspiring model and singer.
Green claims that Cosby enlisted her to help raise money for a club that he wanted to open, and eventually doped her with “some red and grey pills” that he said were “over-the-counter cold medicine,” but left her feeling “weak, dizzy and woozy.”
According to Green’s lawsuit, Cosby drove her to her apartment, after which he began “running his hands all over her body, touching her breasts and vaginal area, and he digitally penetrated her, while masturbating himself.”
The lawsuit stems from what happened much later, when Green made her story public. According to the suit, Green told her story on “Today” and to the Philadelphia Enquirer in February 2005, only to have Cosby’s then-lawyer issue a denial calling her claims “absolutely false” and adding that the incident “did not happen in any way, shape or form.”
Green says that she again told her story, this time to Newsweek, in February, for an interview that also included a denial issued by Cosby’s publicist.
“Defendant Cosby has know that Plaintiff Green’s allegations are true and that his attorneys’, spokesperson’s and or agents’ denials are false,” the lawsuit reads.”[Publicist David] Brokaw and [attorney Walter M.] Phillips [Jr.] each made their denial at the direction of defendant Cosby, and/or within the course and scope of their employment with Defendant Cosby.”
Cosby’s current attorney, Martin Singer, has not yet responded to TheWrap‘s request for comment on the lawsuit. However, in the wake of the mounting allegations against 77-year-old Cosby, Singer released a statement saying: “The new, never-before-heard claims from women who have come forward in the past two weeks with unsubstantiated, fantastical stories about things they say occurred 30, 40, or even 50 years ago have escalated far past the point of absurdity.
“These brand new claims about alleged decades-old events are becoming increasingly ridiculous, and it is completely illogical that so many people would have said nothing, done nothing, and made no reports to law enforcement or asserted civil claims if they thought they had been assaulted over a span of so many years,” Singer said.
Since the allegations against Cosby surfaced, NBC has abandoned plans to develop a comedy that would have starred Cosby, while Netflix has postponed a comedy special featuring the comedian. The U.S. Navy has also revoked Cosby’s honorary title of Chief Petty Officer, which was bestowed to Cosby in 2011.
Green is seeking unspecified damages.
Pamela Chelin contributed to this report.