Bill Cosby is demanding that the accuser in his criminal case repay a confidential sex-abuse settlement because she cooperated with police who reopened the case and arrested him last year.
Cosby filed a sealed breach-of-contract lawsuit this month that said the settlement barred Andrea Constand from “voluntarily” discussing the case with law enforcement.
The suit said Constand had no legal duty to cooperate with Pennsylvania authorities because she lives in Canada. The interviews she and her mother gave to investigators last year were therefore “voluntary” and violated the settlement terms, the suit said.
“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 faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted of sexually assaulting Constand at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004. He has not yet entered a plea, but his lawyers have vowed to clear his name. Constand, 43, is now a massage therapist in Toronto.
His lawsuit against her also names her mother and lawyers as defendants because they also cooperated with Montgomery County authorities last year. The suit accuses them of inviting media coverage or making public statements about the case.
Constand’s lawyers have said the agreement has a provision that allows them to speak to law enforcement about the case. Any such prohibition would amount to obstruction on the part of the lawyers who drafted the document, lawyer Dolores Troiani testified this month, when Cosby first appeared in court for a pretrial hearing in the criminal case.
Cosby, 78, filed the sealed breach-of-contract suit Feb. 1, a day before that hearing. His lawyers were then ordered to file the redacted version of the suit.
The lawsuit is the actor’s latest counterattack against complaints from dozens of women that he drugged and molested them. He has filed defamation suits against accusers in Springfield, Massachusetts, and Los Angeles and through lawyers has called at least some of the accusations “discredited.”
The lawsuit filed against Constand seeks the repayment of the still-secret settlement he paid her in 2006, plus interest. He also seeks damages from Constand, her mother, her two lawyers and the parent company of the National Enquirer, which has published numerous stories on the case.
Cosby, the lawsuit said, has suffered “serious and irreparable harm” and should be compensated by damages “to be proven at trial.”
Troiani declined to comment Thursday on behalf of herself or Constand.
However, in filing a response to Cosby’s bid to keep the case sealed, she and partner Bebe Kivitz said they want to defend the lawsuit in public to respond to charges that they engaged in unethical or potentially criminal acts.
“Cosby is requesting the court permit him to make accusations and statements regarding the underlying settlement while restricting the ability of the public to scrutinize those accusations,” their response said.
The suit accuses Constand of “unjust enrichment” from the settlement. The amount of the settlement has never been disclosed.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
The general idea behind a settlement is to resolve a matter. Andrea Constand agreed to receive a specific amount of money from Bill Cosby in exchange for dropping her allegations about an encounter they had. Once she took the money it was understood that she would stop talking about the matter. From this story it sounds like she willing sought to get involved in Cosby’s legal case. Since she has reneged on her end of the agreement Mr. Cosby is right in expecting her to return the money she received from the settlement. Constand can’t have it both ways. She either gets the money or the limelight, but not both.
I don’t condone the actions Bill Cosby has been accused of, but in the eyes of the law he is entitled to a trial by a fair and impartial jury. The more people that talk the more difficult it becomes for him to get the same fair hearing we would want if we were accused of such a crime.
By the way, people settle out of court all the time. Many times the accused person settles on the advice of their attorney or insurance carrier because it is often cheaper to paying the accuser off than to take your chances in a courtroom. If the person receiving the payoff is allowed to bring the issue back up, there was no reason for the settlement.
Cosby is an old pig and a rapist and I can’t wait to hear the guilty verdicyt. Let him die in prison!
He would make the perfect poster boy for Degenerate Quarterly Magazine,he so much looks the part..
Not many of you understand how things were in the seventies ….. a lot of you weren’t even born then. Just why do you think each state has page after page of children listed with their Attorney General’s office stating UNKNOWN FATHER. Many girls/women don’t even know the first name of the man who supposedly impregnated them. The “GROUPIES” as many were known followed famous personalities from gig to gig and were definitely available for sex with the star or others in the bands and comedians. In clubs in Amarillo TX I have witnessed people having stand-up sex in the hall where the women’s and men’s restrooms were located.
It was a feather in her cap if she could get the star to have a relationship with her. All these women who are part of the lawsuit with Gloria Allred are just admitting they were living a slutty kind of life at the time. The woman involved in the current lawsuit had plenty of warning when twice she visited his home and he made advances toward her that sooner or later she was going to be lying on her back with Cosby on top of her. They all made themselves available and were plenty naive. For most of the stars she was just another body in sometown on the circuit he was making.
So stop being so self righteous and judgmental …… you weren’t there and what I have stated is just the way things were then.
I read where a few of the females involved were seen going to Cosby’s home several times alone, on their own. Before and after the aledged crimes. So who’s guilty of what?
I think the entire ordeal shocked probably the world as popular as Cosby was, rather it’s true or not.
I still don’t understand his wife knowing all or most of it, why?….. would be my question to her, for sticking up for Cosby.
Some things not right and it can’t be all for money not at this stage of their marriage and years involved.
And Montene above, you’re right on girl. Remember Elvis and Michael Jackson (2 of my favorite guys) did the very same things with females of all ages. And the females were just as bad as the guys. It’s just what goes on and every decade it happens with just different ways and other people involved. Anybody popular know they own just about any female they want. And the females love the attention, sex and money! When concert reruns are on TV watch the “ladies” closely in the front rows. They’re begging for it. And I’m not standing up for Cosby at all, I just don’t see him the total person to blame. It takes 2 to tango remember. Unless it’s an outright rape which usually can be proven if the female reports it. I personally know this. And Cosby’s “ladies” were slutty to begin with. Let’s see this for what it really is.
Cosby could be sick in his mind or over sexed, or both, but what he did and the ways he did it, at his age and being a very powerful and popular man, with the “ladies” I cannot see him guilty at all. And the way they all came out (of hiding) and almost together, almost seemed like a scam to me, and after all the years that slipped by?? Very money hungry is my guess. As for the signed-less contract, Cosby was trying to protect himself for just in case what happened happened. He wasn’t admitting to wrong doing. And since the mouthy one now wants to talk when she said she wouldn’t, just another part of the scam. Might make for a good movie. And where were all these “ladies” husbands, boyfriends, live-ins, neighbor, friends or anyone, all of this time from then to now? To fight for them, then and now?
They oughta want to really harm Cosby, but I haven’t seen or heard of any of them.
However, the attorneys are correct if law enforcement sought out the testimony and their client would face obstruction of justice charges if she did not cooperate thus nullifying legally the gag order the settlement imposed.
Sounds to me like Cosby might have a valid breach of contract case – but success in his suit would depend upon the opinion of the judge as to whether or not the terms of the non-disclosure agreement were violated(maybe jury, too, if Cosby elects to go with a jury, but i doubt it if he’s trying to keep the details as secret as possible).
That said, i don’t know if “shut-up money” can lawfully keep a contractee from disclosing the details of a criminal case, which would be tantamount to suborning obstruction of justice. i mean, let’s take an extreme example: the mob makes a hit on the leader of a rival gang, and there’s a witness. The witness, instead of being killed, is handed 100 large to keep her mouth shut…but after the money’s gone, decides to spill to the cops anyway because of the reward money. So the mobsters sue her to get their hundred grand back? And any judge is going to laugh like hell at that one; it’d be like saying “Judge, he sold me cocaine that wasn’t pure!” It’s public policy to never enforce contracts that were illegal to begin with.
Seriously, Billy-boy, you have a major need to know when to STFU and take your lumps. There’s a reason for the old saying “Let sleeping dogs lie,” but maybe you need to learn the hard way. Attempting to keep the details of this suit secret is also a damn-fool move; except in cases of “national security,” or family-court matters involving juveniles, court records are public records. Am i right?
Oh, and another thing occurred to me: suppose that Cosby DOES win and DOES get to take his money back; wouldn’t that free up the victim to sue again, especially after Cosby’s conviction(s) for rape? If so, i’ve always heard that any plea taken in an assault case is primae facie evidence of guilt concerning the underlying charge, which would make any subsequent lawsuits based on that conviction a slam-dunk in favor of the plaintiff. In fact, she could end up suing for MORE than her original bribe money – and WIN, too!
Old Bill must be getting either senile or some mighty bad advice from his attorney(s).
For Constitutionalist; What is STFU stand for?
Hmm thinking about it does it mean Stand Tall F— up?
You know considering the duress horror fear and mental instability raping a woman man or child must experience and relive for an eternity …. let alone the nightmares and life changing experience these unfortunate people must endure for the rest of their lives,It’s inconceivable I would argue that that settlement gave that animal freedom for awhile from the law!!! Almost like a usary pact .The interest was very very high…
That piece of paper Should fall under the heading as illegal and preposterous. I would be shocked and very disappointed that any court would uphold making a deal with a theif murder or rapist as legal
Sounds as if he’s trying to make a mockery of the court system and buying time…..Cosby, satanic filthy trash. Trial? needs to be proven guilty? Ha ha ha ha
Lillian:
STFU = S.hut T.he F.***.Up.
i hope you can understand my desire to not spell it out entirely.
I have no Idea how many children Bill Cosby had but I do know of the son that was murdered. If he was
the only Child and Bill Cosby is single now, he has no one to leave his accumulated fortune too so at
age 78, he does not have that many years to hang around so the Lawyers will be more then happy to relieve him of the burden of excess money. And I agree that most of those women knew full well what
the ultimate goal of Cosby was the entertainment factor they could provide. They should not have been
in his company in the first place if they valued their feined morality as much as they are claiming.
They probably thought that his fame would advance their positions to attain success and when it did
not they became antagonists, saw a chance to drain his cash and jumped on the law suit band wagon.
If Oblamer had a son.
He raped a massage therapist. How desperate is that. Hey, what about Bill Clinton? Be quiet, that’s different.
HEY SIGNPOST ABOVE – IT DOES NOT MATTER WHO IS WHAT. IT’S BEEN KNOW FOR HUNDREDS OF DECADES THAT MALES “RAPE” FARM ANIMALS! ARE YOU NEW TO OUR WORLD OF “MEN” RAPISTS?!