Bill Cosby wants a refund on his settlement agreement with Andrea Constand.
The scandal-scarred comedian’s lawyers have filed legal papers saying that money from his 2006 settlement with former Temple University employee Constand should be returned, if she continues to demand the release of Cosby’s full deposition in the case.
Constand is asking that the entire deposition — which was leaked to and partially published by the New York Times — be made widely available. And Cosby’s team contends that, if she continues to pursue the document’s release, she should give back “all or some” of the cash from the settlement, which included a confidentiality agreement, TMZ reports.
In papers filed Tuesday, Cosby’s lawyers sought to block the further release of the settlement information, noting the fact that Constand had been paid to keep silent on the case.
“Tellingly, Plaintiff does not seek to void the entire Settlement Agreement; obviously, she wants to keep what she was paid,” Tuesday’s papers read.
As TheWrap previously reported, Constand, a former Temple University employee, is seeking to void the 2006 confidentiality agreement because she has “come to the realization that she once again must defend herself in the forum chosen by the defendant.”
Excerpts from the 2005 deposition released earlier this month revealed that Cosby had admitted to obtaining Quaaludes to give to women he planned to have sex with.
In Tuesday’s filing, Cosby’s lawyers contended that Constand violated the settlement agreement by filing the motion to void the confidentiality agreement.
They also asserted that Cosby’s admission that he obtained Quaaludes did not equate to the comedian engaging in non-consensual sex.
“Indeed, Quaaludes were a highly popular recreational drug in the 1970s, labeled in slang as ‘disco biscuits,’ and known for their capacity to increase sexual arousal,” the filing reads. “Yet, upon the unsealing of those excerpts, the media immediately pounced, inaccurately labeling the released testimony as Defendant’s ‘confession’ of ‘drugging’ women and assaulting them.”
In recent months, Cosby has been accused of rape or sexual assault by dozens of women, with a common theme being that he allegedly drugged them beforehand.
Cosby’s attorney, Martin Singer, has denied such accusations in the past. However, in light of the scandal, Cosby has suffered a number of career setbacks, with NBC ditching plans to develop a comedy for Cosby and Netflix opting to postpone a comedy special starring the comedian.