The actor and comedian Bill Cosby faces new accusations of sexual assault in a lawsuit brought by nine women who allege he “used his enormous power, fame and prestige, and claimed interest in helping them and/or their careers, as a pretense to isolate and sexually assault them”.
The lawsuit was filed on Wednesday in US district court for Nevada, several weeks after the Republican governor, Joe Lombardo, signed a “lookback law” that eliminated a two-year deadline for adults to file sexual abuse cases.
Each of the plaintiffs – Janice Dickinson, Lise Lotte-Lublin, Janice Baker Kinney, Lili Bernard, Heidi Thomas, Linda Kirkpatrick, Rebecca Cooper, Pam Joy Abeyta and Angela Leslie – alleges they were drugged and assaulted by Cosby between approximately 1979 and 1992 in homes, dressing rooms and hotels in Las Vegas, Reno and Lake Tahoe.
Cosby, now 85, has been accused of sexual abuse, ranging from groping to rape, by more than 60 women.
In 2018, in a Pennsylvania case, he was convicted on three counts of aggravated indecent assault and sentenced to three to 10 years in prison. In 2021 the conviction was thrown out and Cosby released, because prosecutors broke an agreement that prevented charges.
This year, a Los Angeles jury awarded $500,000 to a woman who said Cosby sexually abused her at the Playboy Mansion in 1975, when she was 16.
Cosby was also sued in Los Angeles this month under a similar statute of limitations extension by Victoria Valentino, a former Playboy model who alleges Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted her in 1969.
Lili Bernard, a guest star on The Cosby Show and participant in the Nevada case, is also suing in New Jersey, alleging Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted her in an Atlantic City hotel in 1990.
Lotte-Lublin, a Nevada native who advocated for the lookback law, alleges Cosby gave her spiked drinks and raped her at a Las Vegas hotel in 1989.
According to the lawsuit, Cosby gave Lotte-Lublin two drinks he said would “help her relax” but which caused her to feel disoriented. Cosby is alleged to have grabbed Lotte-Lublin’s wrists and held them between his legs, touching her hair as he masturbated. Lotte-Lublin alleges she was dragged to a bedroom and assaulted.
“For years I have fought for survivors of sexual assault and today is the first time I will be able to fight for myself,” Lotte-Lublin told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “With the new law change, I now have the ability to take my assailant Bill Cosby to court. My journey has just begun, but I am grateful for this opportunity to find justice.”
Another plaintiff, Baker-Kinney, alleges she was invited to a party at Cosby’s home in Reno, Nevada, in 1982 but arrived to find Cosby alone.
Cosby offered her what she believed were barbiturates, she alleges, adding that she lost consciousness then woke to find her trousers undone and Cosby’s hand in her blouse. When Baker-Kinney next gained consciousness, the lawsuit says, she was naked in bed with Cosby and he was groping her.
Some of the women in the Nevada suit have previously testified against Cosby. Dickinson, a model, testified that Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted her in a Lake Tahoe hotel room in 1982.
“The rape is etched into my soul,” she said after Cosby’s conviction in 2018. “I will never be the same.”
Cosby denies wrongdoing. His publicist, Andrew Wyatt, said: “Judges and lawmakers are consistently allowing these civil suits to flood their dockets – knowing that these women are not fighting for victims but for their addiction to massive amounts of media attention and greed.
“We will not continue to allow these women to parade various accounts of an alleged allegation against Mr Cosby any more without vetting them in the court of public opinion and inside of the courtroom.”
• Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organisations. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 500 2222. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html
