Bill Cosby is not going to take all of this getting sued in stride.
Days after after countersuing seven of his accusers for defamation, lawyers for Cosby lashed out at another accuser, claiming that her suit has no merit and asking that it be dismissed.
In court papers filed on Friday, attorneys for the scandal-battered comedian asked that Hill’s suit be tossed.
Renita Hill, a cast member on Cosby’s former educational program “Picture Pages,” filed suit against Cosby in October, claiming that she was abused by Cosby from 1983 to 1987. Her defamation case stems from comments made by Cosby, his former attorney Martin Singer and his wife Camille Cosby, denying the allegations made against him.
In Friday’s filing, Cosby’s attorneys say that the suit should be dismissed because Hill wasn’t specifically named in the statements, and even if she was, the comments were protected statements of opinion.
“Under well-founded precedent, statements of opinion, even if capable of causing embarrassment, can never serve as the basis for causes of action for defamation, false light and intentional infliction of emotional distress,” the court papers read.
At issue in Hill’s lawsuit are a statement made by Singer that the accusations against Cosby were “becoming increasingly ridiculous”; a statement made by Cosby himself asserting that “a guy doesn’t have to answer to innuendos”; and a statement by Camille Cosby in which she said, in part, “There appears to be no vetting of my husband’s accusers before stories are published or aired. An accusation is published, and immediately goes viral.”
In the past year, Cosby has been accused of rape or sexual assault by dozens of women, many of whom claim that he drugged them beforehand. In addition to facing multiple lawsuits, Cosby has suffered career setbacks in the wake of the allegations, including the postponement of a Netflix special and the shelving of a comedy that NBC was developing for the comedian.
Singer has denied the allegations against Cosby in the past.
Pamela Chelin contributed to this report.