http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2015/12/14/bill-cosby-countersues-accusers-in-massachusetts/77298438/

Bill Cosby is claiming defamation in a lawsuit filed Monday against seven of his accusers.

"Mr. Cosby states plainly that he neither drugged nor sexually assaulted the defendants and that each defendant has maliciously and knowingly published multiple false statements and accusations from Fall 2014 through the current day in an effort to cause damage to Mr. Cosby's reputation and to extract financial gains," Cosby's attorney, Monique Pressley, tells USA TODAY in a statement.

The suit, filed in federal court, is aimed at Massachusetts accusers Tamara Green, Therese Serignese, Linda Traitz, Louisa Moritz, Barbara Bowman, Joan Tarshis and Angela Leslie. Pressley's statement adds that the "false...opportunistic" allegations have caused Cosby to suffer loss of jobs and "mortification."

The seven women have joined together in a defamation suit against Cosby in federal court in Massachusetts (where he lives), originally filed last year by three accusers. It's the largest of the half dozen civil lawsuits filed against Cosby in recent months.

All are known accusers who have come forward publicly in various forums to accuse Cosby of drugging and sexually assaulting them in episodes dating back to the mid-1960s.

Cosby's defamation suit against the seven women comes after a federal judge in Massachusetts refused to throw out their suit against him in October.

"This was expected," says attorney Joseph Cammarata, who represents the seven women named in the Massachusetts suit. "It’s a page out of a defense lawyer’s playbook. It’s curious to me how there can be scores of other ladies who have come out, and yet Mr. Cosby has singled out seven of them to bring a claim against. It’s seems a bit retaliatory to me.”

Attorney Gloria Allred, who is one of six lawyers handling civil lawsuits against Cosby (and represents roughly half of his accusers) spoke out about the news.

"Bill Cosby appears to be going to war against women who have sued him in Massachusetts and who allege that he has victimized them," she tells USA TODAY. "Although I do not represent the women in that case, I do believe that in general such a tactic will not deter courageous women from fighting the battle against him."

Allred's daughter, attorney Lisa Bloom, also joined the conversation. She represents Janice Dickinson, who is also pursuing a civil suit against Cosby for defamation. Dickinson has alleged that Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted her in 1982, which Cosby has denied.

"Having been unsuccessful in his attempt to get the Massachusetts accusers' claims thrown out, Bill Cosby's next aggressive legal move is to countersue them. At least this ensures that the accusers will get the day in court they have been seeking," says Bloom, noting Dickinson is awaiting a decision by the court of appeals on whether Cosby will be deposed in her case.

The deposition had been set for November until a judge temporarily stayed the order.

Cosby's countersuit arrives the same day Boston University decided to revoke the honorary degree conferred on Cosby in 2014, joining scores of colleges and universities who have revoked similar degrees in the last year .

"The Board’s decision was based on a determination, supported by Mr. Cosby’s sworn deposition testimony, that his treatment of women has brought significant and lasting discredit upon himself and is inconsistent with the University’s mission and values," said Boston University president Robert A. Brown in a statement.

The total number of women who have publicly claimed Cosby drugged and/or sexually assaulted them in decades past sits at nearly 50. Cosby has denied wrongdoing, and most of the accusations are too old to pursue in criminal court.

Cosby was deposed inOctober in the California civil case brought by Judy Huth, who claims Cosby forced her to perform a sex act on him in the 1970s. That deposition has not been made public and won't be until at least Dec. 22.

According to his attorney, Cosby is seeking compensatory and punitive damages.

.

Cos can't just disappear quietly

>

***
I'm tryna be better off, not better than...

he wouldn't be in this mess if he'd just SHUT THE FUCK UP and not made any comment in response to the allegations these women made against him.

he should've STFU and lived a quiet life out of the public eye. he's had a good run...enough w/being a public figure. but no...he called them out. and now they're suing for defamation. he could use truth as a defense...but that'd require him to prove that the allegations they'd made are false. he don't want that...so he countersues...and now THEY can use truth as defense. so if they prove that their allegations are true they win/he loses.

i believe by countersuing he throws the ball back in their court. figuratively and kinda literally.

everyone will be deposed. including any number of the other women who've accused him of rapey/druggy shenanigans.

this is a mess. it's his fault, IMO. he could've/should've just SHUT THE FUCK UP.

Burden on proof is on them right?

Proving a rape decades after the fact ain't gonna happen. All evidence is likely to be anecdotal right?

So we can suppose a jury decision in a civil trial, which will look terrible for Cosby but he may actually find at least one or two women who provably exaggerated or even lied, casting doubt on the rest.

Any chance a judge could refuse to hear this case? Seems to me there's almost no hope of a resolution.

>Burden on proof is on them right?

Each plaintiff must prove each of their allegations by a preponderance of evidence. It's a lower standard than in a criminal case where the standard is beyond reasonable doubt.

>Proving a rape decades after the fact ain't gonna happen. All
>evidence is likely to be anecdotal right?

None of the plaintiffs have to prove any rape. The defendants who have been sued for defamation can use truth as a defense. If the defendants said they were raped and the plaintiff says that statement is defamation (basically a harmful lie) then if the defendants prove their statement is true then they win. But they can win in other ways too - they don't have to prove anything necesarily.

And yes - the defendant can prove their rapes with circumstantial evidence. They don't need direct evidence. Plus the standard is relatively low - more likely true than not. So if they choose truth as defense and prove it's more likely true than not that they told the truth then they win. Same with Bill - he is also a defendant accused of telling harmful lies. He said the accusers are lying. If he chooses to prove it's more likely true than not that the accusers are lying (or whatever he said) then he wins. But neither of them has to use truth as their defense.

>So we can suppose a jury decision in a civil trial,

Maybe but maybe not.

which will
>look terrible for Cosby but he may actually find at least one
>or two women who provably exaggerated or even lied, casting
>doubt on the rest.

Maybe.

>
>Any chance a judge could refuse to hear this case? Seems to me
>there's almost no hope of a resolution.

Any of this could be tossed early of the plaintiffs can't find enough proof for their allegations during the pre-trial/discovery phase. Or if their complaints are technically improper for any of several reasons. Or if the cases settle.

And can't they now use (since its public) his past deposition where he admits to drugging women in court?!

he will be deposed in this case. they'll ask him the same or similar questions.

hell, he was already deposed a few months ago in a similar case. the dep transcript is currently sealed but may be released later this month.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/10/bill-cosby-sex-abuse-case-deposition-gloria-allred-playboy-mansion

Yeah, sounds really fucked up. But, its only because the other 30+'s statute of limitations had run out.

BTW: its fucked up that the statute of limitations can run out on rape or assault in any state. Change that shit!

that OJ.

cos bout to be chilling at golf courses at lake tahoe like, i'm hot on the trail.

this dude, man.


peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

http://abcnews.go.com/topics/news/pennsylvania.htm

how this will play out...

http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Bill-Cosby-Montgomery-County-Charges-363817451.html

Sidenote: For some reason I thought he lived on the Main Line. I didn't realize he lived in Cheltenham.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CXf5OELUoAASDj_.jpg:large

.

.

.

or at least laid low, rather than countersuing people.

SMH.

this vid of him at his arraignment is surreal and sad.....

http://6abc.com/news/bill-cosby-arraigned-on-sex-assault-charge/1140645/

NORRISTOWN, Pa. -- Bill Cosby was arrested and charged Wednesday with drugging and sexually assaulting a woman at his home 12 years ago - the first criminal case brought against the comedian out of the torrent of allegations that destroyed his good-guy image as America's Dad.

The case sets the stage for perhaps the biggest Hollywood celebrity trial of the mobile-news era and could send the 78-year-old Cosby to prison in the twilight of his life and pioneering career.

Prosecutors accused him of plying former Temple University employee Andrea Constand with pills and wine, then penetrating her with his fingers without her consent, while she was drifting in and out of consciousness, unable to resist or cry out.

She was "frozen, paralyzed, unable to move," Montgomery County District Attorney-elect Kevin Steele said. In court papers, prosecutors said the drugs were the cold medicine Benadryl or some other, unidentified substance. Steele noted that Cosby has admitted giving quaaludes to women he wanted to have sex with.

VIDEO: Chopper 6 over Cosby arraignment arrival

The TV star acknowledged under oath a decade ago that he had sexual contact with Constand but said it was consensual.

Cosby had no comment on his way in and out of court - and neither did his attorneys - as he was arraigned on a charge of aggravated indecent assault, punishable by five to 10 years behind bars and a $25,000 fine. He did not have to enter a plea and was freed on $1 million bail for another hearing Jan. 14.

Guided by his lawyers, he walked slowly and unsteadily into the courtroom, using a cane and wearing a gray tweed hoodie sweater. He seemed to have trouble seeing the paperwork and finding the place to sign, and his lawyers helped him hold the pen. But he seemed at ease, laughing and chatting with his attorneys.

When the judge said, "Good luck, Mr. Cosby," he shouted: "Thank you!"

The decision to prosecute him came down just days before Pennsylvania's 12-year statute of limitations for bringing charges was set to run out.

The case represents an about-face by the district attorney's office, which under a previous DA declined to charge Cosby in 2005 when Constand first told police that the comic violated her by putting his hands down her pants at his home in the Philadelphia suburb of Cheltenham.

Prosecutors reopened the case over the summer as damaging testimony was unsealed in Constand's related civil lawsuit against Cosby and as dozens of other women came forward with similar accusations that made a mockery of his image as the wise and understanding Dr. Cliff Huxtable from TV's "The Cosby Show."

"Reopening this case was not a question. Rather, reopening this case was our duty as law enforcement officers," said Steele, a top deputy in the DA's office who will take over in January.

In court papers, prosecutors said there are probably other women who were similarly drugged and violated by Cosby. Steele urged them to come forward.

Constand, now 42, lives in Toronto and works as a massage therapist. Her attorney, Dolores Troiani, welcomed the charges.

"She feels that they believe her, and to any victim, that is foremost in your mind: Are people going to believe me," Troiani said. The attorney added: "Naturally it is troubling that it took until the eleventh hour for this day to arrive. She is hopeful that her patience has encouraged other victims to come forward."

The case adds to the towering list of legal problems facing the TV star, including defamation and sexual-abuse lawsuits filed in Massachusetts, Los Angeles and Pennsylvania.

A key question if the case goes to trial is whether the judge will allow supporting testimony from other accusers to show similar "bad acts," even though it is too late to bring charges in most if not all of those instances. The judge could decide such testimony would be unfair.

Cosby in 1965 became the first black actor to land a leading role in a network drama, "I Spy," and he went on to earn three straight Emmys. Over the next three decades, the Philadelphia-born comic created TV's animated "Fat Albert" and the top-rated "Cosby Show," the 1980s sitcom celebrated as groundbreaking television for its depiction of a warm and loving black family headed by two professionals, one a lawyer, the other a doctor.

He was a fatherly figure off camera as well, serving as a public moralist and public scold, urging young people to pull up their saggy pants and start acting responsibly.

Constand, who worked for the women's basketball team at Temple, where Cosby was a trustee and proud alumnus, said she was assaulted after going to his home in January 2004 for some career advice.

Then-District Attorney Bruce Castor declined to charge Cosby, saying at the time that the comedian and his accuser could be portrayed in "a less than flattering light." Constand eventually settled a lawsuit against Cosby in 2006 on confidential terms.

Her allegations and similar ones from other women in the years that followed did not receive wide attention at the time but exploded into view in late 2014, first online, then in the wider media, after comedian Hannibal Buress mocked the moralizing Cosby as a hypocrite and called him a rapist during a standup routine.

That opened the floodgates on even more allegations.

The women were mostly from the world of modeling, acting or other entertainment fields, and Cosby or his representatives denied their allegations, accusing some of them of trying to extract money from him or get ahead in show business.

Earlier this year, The Associated Press persuaded a judge to unseal documents from the Constand lawsuit, and they showed the long-married Cosby acknowledging a string of affairs and sexual encounters.

Cosby, a longtime resident of Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts, testified that he obtained quaaludes in the 1970s to give to women "the same as a person would say, 'Have a drink.'" He denied giving women drugs without their knowledge.

In his deposition, Cosby said he gave Constand three half-pills of Benadryl for stress, telling her only that they were her "friends." He said he fondled Constand, taking her silence as a green light.

"I don't hear her say anything. And I don't feel her say anything. And so I continue and I go into the area that is somewhere between permission and rejection. I am not stopped," Cosby testified. He said Constand was not upset when she left.

Prosecutors said Cosby used wine and drugs to render her incapable of resistance after "the much younger, athletic" Constand blocked two previous sexual advances.

Constand's lawyer has said Constand is gay and was dating a woman around the time she met Cosby in the early 2000s. The AP generally does not identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they agree to have their names published, as Constand has done.

Cosby's fall has been especially painful to many blacks who regarded his commercial and cultural success with great pride.

"There is a fatal difference now between Cliff Huxtable and Bill Cosby that can never be overcome," said author and professor Michael Eric Dyson, who wrote a book on Cosby a decade ago. "It does add a creepy subtext and a shadow of tremendous moral weight that will inevitably be brought up each time his name is evoked."

shred these charges to pieces

After reading the accuser's story this one seems like a straight-up celebrity shakedown imo...

I'm starting to believe we've ALL been coerced one way or another into assuming Cosby's guilt (primarily because of the sheer volume of accusers) due in part to the media NOT properly vetting these women's allegations which has subsequently led to him being accused and charged and convicted IN THE COURT OF PUBLIC OPINION w/o him ever being given due process

We've allowed allegations that have never stood up to a cross-examination in a court of law to destroy a man's LEGACY that has meant so much to us and how we see ourselves...

Due to the statute of limitations on ALL the cases we will never get to hear either Bill or his accusers testify in court and be heard by a jury

I wonder, though, will ppl's mind change or will they at least begin to question the numerous allegations against Bill Cosby if his lawyer wins this particular case which I have no doubt she will after reading what the accuser alleges what occurred between her and Bill...

As a point of fact: There are *several* other accusers who have been caught in BLATANT LIES abt being drugged and raped by Bill Cosby but somehow the media didn't report any of this

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

It's hard to convict a celebrity but the way this has played out I think it will be an uphill battle for Cosby. There is already strong public opinion that he is guilty.

The admission that he obtained quaaludes for sex will be tough to overcome.

>
>
>It's hard to convict a celebrity but the way this has played
>out I think it will be an uphill battle for Cosby. There is
>already strong public opinion that he is guilty.

ALL THAT IS NEEDED IS TO CAST DOUBT IN THE MIND OF ONE JUROR
>
>The admission that he obtained quaaludes for sex will be tough
>to overcome.

Not really when you consider this was the drug of choice once upon a time known as "disco biscuits" - the 70s were when ppl were regularly popping quaaludes for purposes of having sex

This accuser WILLINGLY took a quaalude...supposedly AFTER she refused TWO of Cosby's sexual advances...

you don't even have to be a good defense attorney to plant a seed of doubt in juror's mind concerning the veracity of her story

like yourself have drowned out those who still believe in constituional rights which states that a MAN OR WOMAN IS INNOCENT UNTIL *PROVEN* GUILTY

And when we allow the loud and oftentimes wrongheaded ppl to forego a person's constitutional rights is when we (meaning Negroes in particular) become no different than those who have accused and convicted and sentenced countless of blk men to prison based on UNPROVEN accusations

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

>like yourself have drowned out those who still believe in
>constituional rights which states that a MAN OR WOMAN IS
>INNOCENT UNTIL *PROVEN* GUILTY
>
>And when we allow the loud and oftentimes wrongheaded ppl to
>forego a person's constitutional rights is when we (meaning
>Negroes in particular) become no different than those who have
>accused and convicted and sentenced countless of blk men to
>prison based on UNPROVEN accusations


People are more concerned with being politically correct than searching for the truth. They have a right to make up their mind before his day in court but unless you personally know Cosby or the victims, you should be able to debate the merits of the case without resorting to personal attacks (this applies to both sides).

Personal attacks feel like an attempt to bully people into group think which scares me more than political incorrectness.

Based on the evidence I've heard so far things don't look good for Cosby but I try to keep an open mind until he has his day in court.

There is a reason the system is set up as "innocent until proven guilty".

No message

He's free right? WTF are you talking about.

>He's free right? WTF are you talking about.

I never said his constitutional rights were violated and I stated that people are free to make up their mind whenever.

Reading is fundamental.

Daily Beast

LOYAL TO THE LAST

Bill Cosby Truthers Rally to Their Man

By Lizzie Crocker

The new charges against the comedian haven’t swayed his most loyal believers’ faith one iota—his accusers, they say, are just ‘gold-diggers’ ‘who wanted to be part of his lifestyle.’

While activists and many in the mainstream media cheered the news that Bill Cosby had been criminally charged with sexual assault on Wednesday, fans of the comedian doubled down in their defense of him on social media.

Taking to Facebook pages with names like “We Stand with Cosby” and “Bill Cosby is innocent until proven guilty,” they vented their anger at 30-year-old Andrea Constand, the alleged victim whose case has resurfaced 10 years after she filed a civil suit accusing Cosby of sexually assaulting her. They railed against the other women—gold-diggers, they say—who have come forward with stories of sexual abuse decades after it allegedly occurred; at the biased media for declaring him guilty; at anyone who challenges their fevered conviction that he is innocent.

Indeed, Cosby is innocent until proven guilty. But for many Cosby loyalists, a guilty conviction would be a wrongful one—irrespective of what happens at trial.

John P. Burrows Jr., 53, proudly holds himself up as one of these loyalists. As long as there is no “physical” evidence that implicates Cosby (there is none in the Constand case filed in criminal court Wednesday), Burrows said he will stand by his man.

“I think he probably did have sex with some of these women,” Burrows, a veteran who lives in Washington state, told The Daily Beast.

But Burrows said he thinks the sex was consensual—that these women were “hangers-on” who are now seeking revenge for not getting the comedian’s undivided attention back then. “Knowing the nature of the entertainment business and the fact that these allegations are surfacing 10, 20, 30, 40 years later—if there was anything to be proven, they would have done so earlier,” he said.

Reisa Elmore, a 58-year-old part-time elementary school teacher in the Bay Area who has written extensive comments on a pro-Cosby Facebook page, said she believes Gloria Allred “whatever feminist organization is backing her” are largely to blame for the Cosby smear campaign.

“I think he’s been railroaded and that Gloria Allred and her ilk are trying to shake him down for money,” Elmore said of the lawyer, who represents more than two dozen Cosby accusers.

Like Burrows, Elmore said she thinks Cosby “had a lot of groupies who he was just trying to please and make happy, and if he didn’t put a couple of thousand dollars in their tennis shoes, then years down the road they want to sue for a lot of money.”


Rape Allegations Haunt Bill Cosby in the Digital Age
Inform

Elmore said she considered Cosby an American icon—“an American treasure”—and a pioneer for comedians of all races.

The women who have accused him of sexual assault, Elmore said, were “a bunch of hippie girls who wanted to be part of his lifestyle back then, and they just feel stupid later that they didn’t get more out of it.”

No matter how the criminal case with Constand shakes out, Elmore “will not teach a child of any generation in the future that the icon Bill Cosby was a sexual predator. If he really was one, I don’t think he would have been as prolific of an entertainer as he was. He wouldn’t have had the time.”

“If he really was a sexual predator, I don’t think he would have been as prolific of an entertainer as he was. He wouldn’t have had the time.”

As an argument for why Cosby couldn’t possibly have sexually assaulted women, that’s about as fantastically absurd as it gets.

Cosby’s legacy as a beloved comedian and civil-rights pioneer has protected him from sexual assault allegations that have surfaced over the years. No one wanted to believe that Dr. Huxtable was a predator.

Cosby loyalists can’t possibly conceive the idea even now, after 46 women have claimed some form of sexual abuse—many coming forward in the last six months—and after Pennsylvania district attorney filed criminal charges against Cosby.

For Elmore, Cosby is indistinguishable from the doting father he played on TV.

Similarly, for Charles Wilford Sr., a 49-year-old chef in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Cosby the activist cannot be reconciled with Cosby the rapist.

“He tried to get black men and black women back on track the way Martin Luther King Jr. wanted them to get back on track,” Wilford said. He likens the abuse accusations against Cosby to those against Michael Jackson.

“He was weird, don’t get me wrong,” Wilford said of Jackson. “But his music was all about love, and he loved children because he didn’t have a proper childhood himself. Michael Jackson beat those child sex abuse charges, and I believe Bill Cosby will beat these charges as well.”

The creator of the “We Stand with Cosby” Facebook page, who asked to remain anonymous, is less of a Cosby fan than someone who believes men are more often falsely accused of sexual assault than not.

He’d known about the Cosby allegations for years, but he’s paid closer attention to them since last spring, around the same time that the Rolling Stone UVA gang rape story was revealed to be fabricated.

“Many of the accusers wouldn’t be able to practice law if they got law degrees because they’ve been convicted of fraud,” he told The Daily Beast, adding that the Constand case is nothing but a “he said, she said case.”

He’s right. But as my colleague Michael Daly noted, if the judge in Constand’s case considers the other allegations against Cosby, it’s their damning words—all 46 accusers—against his.

Shit was tight.