Judge tosses Pennsylvania woman’s defamation suit against Bill Cosby

A federal judge in Pittsburgh has dismissed a lawsuit against Bill Cosby that had claimed his sexual assault denials amounted to defamation.

Renita Hill, 48, a Pittsburgh resident, said in October she filed the lawsuit for comments made by Cosby’s representatives after she spoke publicly of alleged sexual misconduct in the 1980s.

The judge agreed with Cosby’s attorneys that the statements were protected by the First Amendment.

Hill went public with her allegations in November 2014, after other accusers had already stepped forward.

Hill’s attorneys have said Cosby mentored her when she was a young woman, and paid for her education at Temple University and Spelman College.

Also in December, Cosby was – for the first time – criminally charged in suburban Philadelphia with drugging and sexually assaulting one of his accusers, at his home in Montgomery County, Pa., in 2004.

Due to statutes of limitations, numerous allegations are too old to be the subject of criminal charges.

He promised to appeal.

“The basis of his opinion is these are constitutionally protected, “pure” opinions”, Kontos said.

Seven women are suing Cosby in federal court in MA for defamation. “It is our hope that courts in other jurisdictions with similar matters will respond in like manner”. Still, they have toppled Cosby from his cultural status as one of America’s most-admired comedians.

He is now free on $1 million (£670,000) bail following his arrest last month (Dec15), although his lawyers are attempting to have the case dismissed, suggesting a previous prosecutor broke a promise not to press charges over the embattled comedian’s encounter with Constand. His lawyer has said he is not guilty and will not consider a plea bargain.