JANICE DICKINSON’s defamation lawsuit against Bill Cosby and his lawyer has been thrown out by a Los Angeles court – although her sexual assault complaint against the comedian will go forward. The case was brought by the model and Voguecover girl last year after she accused Cosby of raping her in 1982 and he – via his lawyer Marty Singer – publically called her a “liar” over the claims.
Janice Dickinson
Picture credit: Getty
Singer and Cosby argued that the denial constituted freedom of speech but not defamation, and filed a motion to strike the complaints under California’s anti-SLAPP statute; which gives special consideration to lawsuits involving protected speech. Judge Debra Weintraub agreed to strike the defamation claims, also thereby removing Singer from the case, but Dickinson’s legal team remain unbowed.
“The primary focus of this case has always been against Bill Cosby and remains against Bill Cosby,” Dickinson’s lawyer Lisa Bloom said following the hearing, which Dickinson and Cosby did not attend. “We will continue to fight the case against Bill Cosby.”
The latest development in the legal saga came in December when Cosby launched a countersuit against seven of his 50-plus accusers, but not against Dickinson, claiming that their accusations cost him his television comeback. Just yesterday, Kanye West – never shy of a Twitter outburst – became the latest celebrity to add their voice to the conversation about Cosby, coming out firmly in support of the comedian with a tweet that simply read: “Bill Cosby innocent!”