Cosby sues sex-assault accuser, lawyer for contract breach

Actor Bill Cosby (2nd R) arrives for hearing on at Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pennsylvania February 2, 2016.

The lawsuit identifies Andrea Constand, her lawyer, her mother and the publisher of the National Enquirer.

It’s likely that Cosby’s attorneys are suing Constand for breaching a confidentiality agreement signed in 2005 after Constand and Cosby reached a settlement before her civil lawsuit would have gone to trial.

Constand alleged that Cosby drugged her and sexually assaulted her. This is not, however, the first time she filed a lawsuit as she already claimed the same thing in the past, Reuters reported.

Cosby was charged for aggravated indecent assault in December over the 2004 incident.

The information came to light after Dolores Troiani and Bebe Kivitz, the attorneys, filed a breach-of-contract lawsuit in federal court, Yahoo News reports. Cosby’s lawyers are now appealing a Judge’s recent decision which rejected an alleged binding non prosecution agreement with former D.A. Bruce Castor.

“Despite being under no legal obligation to discuss any aspects of the events and allegations, … and despite being expressly prohibited from disclosing such information to anyone, Andrea Constand volunteered to participate and disclosed such information to the district attorney and others”, Cosby’s lawyers wrote in a redacted suit filed Thursday.

Cosby sought the hearing to explore whether he had a promise from the prior district attorney that he would never be charged over the encounter with Constand, who was then a basketball team employee at Temple University, his alma mater.

However, the Enquirer and Cosby reached an agreement, whereby Cosby would give the tabloid an exclusive detailing what he portrayed as Constand’s extortion attempt, in return for the tabloid dropping the story based on Ferrier’s accusations.

Cosby built his career on a family-friendly image, playing Dr Cliff Huxtable on The Cosby Show from 1984 to 1992. The suit also faults Constand’s mother, lawyers, and the National Enquirer. That deposition is now a key piece of evidence in the criminal case against him.

After the story accusing Constand of extortion was published in 2005, in 2006 Constand sued American Media and Cosby for libel.

If convicted of assaulting the former educator, the 78-year-old comedian could spend up to 10 years behind bars.

Cosby is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on the felony case on 8 March. Troiani also declined to comment.