Model Janice Dickinson sues Bill Cosby for defamation over sexual assault allegation denial
Janice Dickinson is suing Bill Cosby following a denial issued by a legal representative, adding to the list of lawsuits the embattled comedian currently faces.
Janice Dickinson is suing Bill Cosby following a denial issued by a legal representative, adding to the list of lawsuits the embattled comedian currently faces.
Dickinson reportedly filed her suit on Wednesday, claiming defamation, false light, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. In a statement, Dickinson's lawyer, Lisa Bloom (daughter of attorney Gloria Allred), said Cosby's denial has "branded her a liar."
Via People:
"Janice Dickinson, like over three dozen other Cosby victims, recently publicly disclosed that she was drugged and raped by Bill Cosby," Dickinson's lawyer writes in the complaint. "In retaliation, Cosby, through an attorney, publicly branded her a liar and called her rape disclosure a lie with the intent and effect of revictimizing her and destroying the professional reputation she's spent decades building."
Dickinson first came forward in November 2014, claiming that Cosby drugged and raped her in Lake Tahoe in 1982. Initially, she says she had gone to Cosby's home there to discuss a part on The Cosby Show.
"I remember more specifically waking up and that … there was a lot of pain downstairs," she told CNN in December last year. "There was semen all over me and my pajama bottoms were off and the top was opened. At that point, fight or flight, I Just packed up and got the hell out of there."
Following Dickinson's allegation coming to light, Cosby's attorney Marty Singer said that it was a "fabricated lie."
"They only story she gave 12 years ago to the media and in her autobiography was that she refused to sleep with Mr. Cosby and he blew her off," Singer told People. "Documentary proof and Ms. Dickinson's own words show that her new story about something she now claims happened back in 1982 is a fabricated lie."
According to USA Today, Dickinson requested a retraction of the statement, but Singer refused.
Cosby, through his reps, has denied sexually assaulting Dickinson and roughly 40 other accusers that began coming forward en masse in November 2014.
In addition to Dickinson's suit, Cosby also currently faces defamation claims from accusers Linda Traitz, Therese Serignese, and Tamara Green in Massachusetts.