Cosby demands money back from accuser in sex assault case

Cosby said that violates the confidentiality agreement she signed to not talk about the case.

Just before this setback, Cosby’s lawyers filed the lawsuit against Constand and the National Enquirer, apparently hoping to use the lawsuit alleging breach of contract to silence Constand and her lawyers, or at least delay the criminal case.

When prosecutors reopened the criminal charges against Cosby in 2015, investigators had to speak to all of the defendants now named in the breach-of-contract lawsuit.

Cosby built his career on a family-friendly image, playing Dr Cliff Huxtable on The Cosby Show from 1984 to 1992.

Constand, when she was an employee in Temple University’s basketball program in 2004, visited Cosby’s Cheltenham Township home, where she says he put drugs in her wine, leaving her helpless to fight off a sexual assault.

Cosby, who has not entered a plea, was charged December 30 with aggravated indecent assault against Constand. Constand, 43, is now a massage therapist in Toronto.

Cosby’s lawsuit names Constand’s mother and lawyers as defendants because they also cooperated with Montgomery County authorities previous year.

American Media Inc., parent company of the Cosby-loathing National Enquirer (he is regularly referred to as “the pervy performer” in its coverage), issued a statement questioning the Cosby legal team’s defense strategy.

Cosby is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on the felony case on 8 March.

Lawyers for a number of other accusers suing Cosby for defamation have also demanded that American Media release details of the deposition, which was subsequently unsealed as part of the criminal investigation.

The lawsuit is Cosby’s latest counterattack against complaints from dozens of women that he drugged and molested them.

“Both Andrea and Gianna Constand voluntarily sat for interviews with the district attorney, even though they were under no legal obligation to do so and the terms of the Confidential Settlement Agreement expressly prohibited such conduct”, Cosby’s attorneys wrote. Cosby filed the lawsuit a day before a February 2 criminal court hearing that included testimony from Constand’s lawyer Dolores Troiani.

A judge disagreed, and said that the case against Cosby would proceed to trial. The then-District Attorney declined to bring charges against the now 78-year-old comedian, but Constand pursued a civil suit which was settled in 2006.