Las Vegas Judge Allows New Bill Cosby Lawsuit

Posted on: September 18, 2024, 11:27h. 

Last updated on: September 18, 2024, 11:49h.

Corey Levitan Read More
Expertise: Commercial Gaming, Entertainment, Expert Insight, Las Vegas, Las Vegas Myths.

Bill Cosby will make his first public appearance in Las Vegas since 2011 as a defendant.

Bill Cosby is photographed after his sentencing for sexual assault on Sept. 25, 2018. (Image: Montgomery County Correctional Facility)

This week, a US District Court in Las Vegas gave the green light to a civil lawsuit filed by 10 more women accusing the disgraced former comedian and TV star of sexual abuse.

The suit — alleging sexual assault, emotional distress, battery, and false imprisonment — was filed after Nevada last year passed a law, Senate Bill 129, lifting the statute of limitations for civil claims by survivors of sexual violence.

A trial date hasn’t yet been set and it is not yet known what monetary or other damages the lawsuit seeks.

In her ruling, US District Judge Gloria Navarro rejected arguments made by Cosby’s attorney that SB 129 violated both his client’s due process rights and the state’s prohibition on laws only applying to a select group of people (in this case, victims of sexual assault).

Navarro also rejected all 10 claims of sexual assault, since sexual assault isn’t a civil tort under Nevada law. (The other charges were allowed.) And she deferred a decision on whether one of the woman’s claims — that Cosby forced her to masturbate him — could be revived by SB 129. Navarro said she would ask the Nevada Supreme Court to weigh in on that.

Since the new lawsuits are civil, Cosby, now 87, cannot face imprisonment if convicted.

Cos for Concern

Bill Cosby appears in a program advertising his 1978 standup performances at the Las Vegas Hilton. (Image: Las Vegas Hilton)

A rare comedian who wouldn’t use profanity and who chastised those who did, Cosby served as a beacon for decency and morality in the modern world. In Las Vegas, he frequently headlined the Sahara, Caesars Palace, and the Las Vegas Hilton in the ’60s and ’70s, and more recently, the Mirage, Bellagio, Venetian, Treasure Island, and MGM Grand.

In addition to his standup career, he created, hosted, and voiced the most beloved animated kids TV show of the ’70s, “Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids,” and followed that up by playing “America’s Dad” on the highest-rated sitcom of the ’80s, NBC’s “The Cosby Show.”

All this made it incredibly hard for the world to accept when the allegations of sexual assault first surfaced in 2014, beginning with actress Janice Dickinson, who accused America’s Dad of drugging and raping her in 1982.

Since then, however, more than 60 women have come forward with almost identical stories, including several who filed lawsuits in the past year under the Adult Survivors Act. Many said that it was precisely Cosby’s wholesome image that allowed them to feel safe around him and accept invitations to his home.

Cosby’s legal woes began in December 2015, when three felony charges of aggravated indecent assault were filed against him in Montgomery County, Pa.

His first trial, two years later, deadlocked the jury and was declared a mistrial. His second resulted in a guilty verdict on all three counts. In September 2018, Cosby began serving a sentence of 3-10 years in state prison.

In June 2021, Cosby was freed after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overruled his conviction, citing an agreement with a previous prosecutor that prevented Cosby from being charged.

Cosby denies all allegations of sex crimes.