Bill Cosby Wins Round One Of Contentious Abuse Cases Against Him

Bill Cosby Wins Round One Of Contentious Abuse Cases Against Him

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Bill Cosby wins one round of the numerous abuse cases against him, after judge dismisses defamation lawsuit filed by a woman who accused him of sexually abusing her aged 16.

Renita Hill, 48, sued Cosby in October accusing him of making her out to be a 'liar and extortionist' by denying that he had abused her in the 1980s.

A federal judge agreed with Cosby's attorneys that the statements were opinions protected by the First Amendment.

Hill's lawsuit was thrown out with prejudice, meaning she cannot try to amend and re-file it.

Her attorney promised to appeal the ruling saying he strongly disagreed with the judge's reasoning.

Cosby was charged last month with aggravated indecent assault for allegedly drugging and taking advantage of Andrea Constand in 2004.

More than 50 women have come forward accusing the married 78-year-old coming of sexual abuse.

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The federal judge on Thursday dismissed the defamation lawsuit filed against Bill Cosby by a Pittsburgh-area woman who accused the disgraced comic of drugging and sexually assaulting her as a teenager.

As the October lawsuit filed by Renita Hill, 48, of Baldwin, was thrown out with prejudice, it means she cannot try to amend and re-file it.

Hill went public with her allegations in November 2014 in an interview on Pittsburgh's KDKA-TV in which she said she was 'emboldened' by more than 50 other women who had made similar accusations against Cosby.

A judge on Thursday threw out a defamation lawsuit filed against Bill Cosby by sex abuse accuser Renita Hill, 48


Hill, filed the lawsuit in October, contending that Cosby  defamed her after she gave an interview claiming he sexually abused her in the 1980s. Her lawsuit said she was made out to be a 'liar' and 'extortionist' when the comedian, his wife Camille and his attorney issued blanket denials.

US District Judge Arthur Schwab agreed with Cosby's attorneys that the statements were opinions protected by the First Amendment.

'Even considering these three statements together as a combined, single statement, this newly "conjoined" statement does not lead to an inference that plaintiff is a "liar and an extortionist,"' the judge wrote in his opinion.

Hill's attorney, George Kontos, promised to appeal the ruling saying he strongly disagreed with the judge's reasoning.

'The basis of his opinion is these are constitutionally protected, "pure" opinions,' Kontos said. 'But, looked at as a whole, they contain all sorts of innuendo and undisclosed facts.'

Hill, a mother-of-three, claimed in her lawsuit that she first met Cosby on the educational children's TV show Picture Pages in 1983, when she was 16 years old.

Hill appeared on an educational children's TV show as a teenager with Bill Cosby in the 1980s.

The Pennsylvania mother-of-three said in a 2014 interview that the comedian drugged and assaulted her over the course of four years, beginning in 1983 when she was just 16 years old. Shortly afterward Cosby began flying her to cities where he was performing and paying for her hotel room.

'Once Cosby finished his show, or business, Renita would be summoned to his room. Once there, Cosby would hand Renita a glass with some form of liquid in it and instruct her to "drink that,"' the lawsuit said.

Most of the time, after drinking, 'Renita would lose consciousness and wake up in her room the next day, oftentimes nude, disheveled, confused and disoriented,' the lawsuit said.

At first, Hill assumed she blacked out from drinking too much, but eventually realized 'she was being assaulted and taken advantage of during these occasions,' and that 'the drinks provided to her by Cosby contained drug(s) that affected her consciousness, memory and perception,' the lawsuit said.

After a few such incidents, Hill objected to taking the drinks only to be told by Cosby, 'If you don't drink the drink, you can't come' on the trips, according to the complaint.

Bill Cosby leaves a PA court after being arraigned Dec 2015
Cosby, center, was charged in late December with a felony charge of aggravated indecent assault.

She relented and, on one occasion when she didn't fully lose consciousness remembers Cosby kissing and groping her, as well as angering Cosby by complaining about his 'cigar breath,' the court filing said.

Hill broke off contact with Cosby in 1987, while she was a sophomore in college. Before their split, the comic had been paying for Hill's tuition and housing.
A day after Hill's KDKA interview about the allegations , Cosby attorney Martin Singer issued a statement saying: 'The new, never-before-heard claims from women who have come forward in the past two weeks with unsubstantiated, fantastical stories about things they say occurred 30, 40, or even 50 years ago have escalated far past the point of absurdity.'

Cosby is accused of sexually assaulting Temple University employee Andrea Constand in 2004 after giving her drugs that made her drowsy and unable to resist

Cosby and his wife made separate statements in the weeks that followed, with Cosby saying he refused to respond to 'innuendos' and inviting the public to 'fact-check' his accusers.

Camille Cosby accused media outlets of violating rules of journalistic integrity by publishing some of the allegations without properly 'vetting' Cosby's accusers.

Kontos had argued in an earlier court filing that those statements weren't pure opinions protected by the First Amendment because they included 'undisclosed facts' — namely, the implication that Hill and the other accusers are lying.

But Judge Schwab found the statements citing innuendo and fact-checking were 'a far cry' from labeling the accusers liars and extortionists.

Cosby has yet to respond specifically to Hill's allegations that he drugged and molested, starting when she was 16.

Seven women are suing Cosby in federal court in Massachusetts for defamation.

Like Hill, those women contend Cosby defamed them by allowing his representatives to brand them as liars.

In December, Cosby countersued, saying the women made 'malicious, opportunistic, and false and defamatory accusations' against him for monetary gain.

Since then, Cosby has been criminally charged in suburban Philadelphia with sexually assaulting Temple University employee Andrea Constand in 2004 after giving her drugs that made her drowsy and unable to resist.

A judge has set a February 2 hearing on a motion by Cosby's attorneys to have those charges dismissed.


SOME OF THE WOMEN WHO SAY THEY WERE ATTACKED BY BILL COSBY

Barbara Bowman --- Bowman told MailOnline that Cosby raped and drugged her in 1985 when she was a 17-year-old aspiring actress. Bowman was one of Constand's 13 Jane Does.

Joan Tarshis - -- Tarshis claimed that she was just 19-years-old when Cosby drugged and raped her twice in Hollywood back in 1969 while she was working as a writer for him.

Janice Dickinson ---- The supermodel said in an interview that Cosby invited her to Lake Tahoe to talk about a television role in 1982, but ended up drugging and raping her.

Tamara Green - Green, who first came forward in 2005 told MailOnline that she was an aspiring actress in the 1970s when Cosby gave her pills and pretended to care for her while she had the flu, but instead sexually assaulted her.

Therese Serignese - Another of the 13 Jane Does, she says she was 19 when Cosby drugged and raped her in Las Vegas after one of his shows.

Louisa Moritz - She accused Cosby of sexual assault, saying he forced her into oral sex backstage at The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson in 1971, and implied he would further her career if she complied.

Linda Joy Traitz - She said she was just 19 when Cosby drove her out to a beach and tried to get her to take pills to relax, before becoming 'sexually aggressive'. Traitz has been charged in the past with trafficking pills. Cosby's attorney, Marty Singer, is trying to use Traitz's past to discredit her claims.

Beth Ferrier - Ferrier claims she had a relationship with Cosby in the mid-1980s. She claims that she awoke in her car with her clothes in disarray and not remembering what had happened. Ferrier has claimed that he drugged her coffee.

Carla Ferrigno - The wife of Incredible Hulk star Lou Ferrigno, claims Cosby tried to sexually assault her during a gathering at his house in 1967. What's more, Cosby allegedly tried to use a friend to help court Ferrigno, and allegedly made his move on the former Playboy Bunny just moments after his own wife, Camille, left the room.

Angela Leslie - The former model-actress claims that Cosby forced her to masturbate him in his Vegas hotel suite after giving her a strong drink in 1992.

Renita Chainey Hill - The 48-year-old mother-of-three who met Cosby when she was offered a role on Picture Pages in Pittsburgh claimed he would fly her to cities around the United States and drug her during a four-year relationship.

Kristina Ruehli - A New Hampshire grandmother-of-eight, now 71, claims Cosby invited her back to his house for a 'party'. She arrived and no one was there.

Ruehli alleges that he drugged two bourbons he poured her and she came to when he was on top of her, shirtless.

Victoria Valentino - The former Playboy playmate claims Cosby drugged her and a friend, tried to rape her friend then violated her instead in a Hollywood apartment after dinner.

Jewel Allison - The former model accused Cosby of drugging her wine and making her feel his genitals before kissing her during a dinner at his home in the late Eighties.

Michelle Hurd -The 47-year-old actress, known for her roles on Law & Order: SVU and Gossip Girl, revealed she was a stand-in on the set of The Cosby Show when Cosby started acting inappropriately around her. She says he asked her to go to his house to take a shower so he could blow dry her hair straight, but she decided not to go.

P.J. Masten - The former Playboy bunny claims Cosby invited her out to dinner in Chicago. Before they left he gave her a drink and the next thing she remembers is waking up naked and bruised in his bed. Masten claims she knows of 12 other former bunnies who were attacked by Cosby but have not yet come forward.

Joyce Emmons -The former comedy club manager claims she woke up naked next to a friend of Bill Cosby after the comedian gave her a sedative when she complained of a migraine. Emmons told TMZ that the comedian slipped her a Quaalude when she was in his Las Vegas hotel suite in the 1970s. She claims Cosby drugged her but has not accused him of sexual assault.

Lachele Covington - The 20-year-old actress, who'd been an extra on the TV show Cosby, filed a police report in March 2000 against the star, accusing him of making an unwelcome sexual advance. According to The New York Post, after dinner and drinks at his home, he massaged her then 'guided her hand towards his sweatpants'. Cosby denied the claim and no charges were filed.

Shawn Brown - The only woman that Cosby admits cheating with claims that after a two-month relationship, Cosby drugged a drink and urged her to down it. He then raped her while she was unconscious and got her pregnant, she says.

Paige Young - Young shot herself dead in 1974 aged 30. She had had an affair with Cosby shortly before her death. In a suicide note she said that many Hollywood stars had used her and spat her out.

Judy Huth - Huth claims Cosby raped her at the Playboy Mansion in 1974 when she was just 15

Chelan Lasha - Lasha was an aspiring model in 1986 when she says Cosby gave her two shots of Amaretto and a pill and then attacked her as she lay on his bed in the Elvis Presley suite at the Hilton Las Vegas.

Beverley Johnson - The first black woman to be on the cover of American Vogue said Cosby made a drugged cappuccino for her when she visited his New York brownstone to read through lines for a small part in the Cosby Show. As she felt her body go limp she shouted at Cosby: 'You are a motherf***** aren't you?' Angry, Cosby dragged her downstairs and dumped her in a taxi.

Chloe Goins - This 24-year-old model claims Cosby spiked her drink with a sedative before luring her into a room and launching an attack on her in 2008.