Bill Cosby’s lawyers to ask judge to throw out accuser Tamara Green’s defamation lawsuit
Following the emergence of another woman accusing their client of sexual assault yesterday, Bill Cosby’s lawyers announced they will ask a federal judge to dismiss a defamation lawsuit filed in December 2014 by accuser Tamara Green.
Following the emergence of another woman accusing their client of sexual assault yesterday, Bill Cosby's lawyers announced they will ask a federal judge to dismiss a defamation lawsuit filed in December 2014 by accuser Tamara Green.
Two more women accusing Cosby of sexual assault, Linda Traitz and Therese Serignese, have since joined Green's suit, which Cosby's lawyers hope to file against by Friday. The plaintiffs argue that Cosby's denials of the sexual assault claims against him, primarily through his representatives, have branded them liars in the public eye.
Green filed the suit last year in U.S. District Court in Springfield, Mass., near where Cosby owned a home some 45 miles north in Shelburne Falls. The trio is currently seeking an as-yet-unspecified amount of money in punitive and compensatory damages.
Cosby's lawyers yesterday announced their intent to have the case dismissed in an update filed jointly with the plaintiffs' lawyers. The two counsels have reportedly been working to alleviate problematic details in the suit since the beginning of February.
The motion to dismiss centers on "any issues that by that time have not been resolved through confidence" between the women's lawyers and Cosby's counsel. To that end, the update suggests a March 20 deadline to reply to the dismissal motion, with an April 8 deadline for Cosby's lawyers to respond after that.
Tamara Green claims to have been drugged and sexually assaulted by Cosby sometime in the 1970s. Serignese, for her part, alleges a similar story from 1976, while Traitz says Cosby attempted to drug and grope her in 1970. All of their alleged incidents fall outside of the statutes of limitation for sexual assaults, which led to the decision to file a civil suit against Cosby.
More than 30 women have accused Cosby of sexual misconduct, though it should be noted he has never been charged with a crime. Since the flood of accusations began last November, Cosby's lawyers have resoundingly denied all claims.
Cosby's live tour, however, has been affected, with the comedian canceling dates in California, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania over the last month. Most recently, he postponed a March 15 appearance at the University of Kentucky.