Bill Cosby
Star faces new rape lawsuit
Bill Cosby faces new allegations.
© Wochit/AFP
Another woman has used a new US law to file a lawsuit against Bill Cosby. He raped her in the 80s.
Another woman is seeking a court case against actor and comedian Bill Cosby (86). In relevant documents According to reports released by US site People, singer Morganne Picard was drugged and raped by Cosby in the late 1980s.
Cosby initially invited the then aspiring musician to the set of his “Cosby Show” in 1987 and “insisted” that Picard drink drinks that made her “extremely intoxicated”. The rape occurred after another allegedly drugged drink, this time taken at Cosby’s house.
Strong similarities to another case
Picard had a film tear there and later woke up “naked and with pain in her private parts”. The full allegation in the court documents: “While Ms. Picard was physically incapacitated by the unknown substance, Cosby stripped her and raped her – without her consent or that she would have been able to consent.” The prosecutor also blames several production studios, since they “in no way” tried to investigate and stop the alleged machinations of their star.
In June of this year, the former “Playboy” model Victoria Valentino (80) had another wife accused of a similar incident. She said she was drugged and abused by the entertainer more than five decades ago. Valentino claims she met Cosby in 1969 while working as an actress and singer. They later met by chance at a restaurant in Los Angeles. He gave her a pill that night that left her “incapacitated” and abused her, according to her allegations. Cosby’s attorneys vehemently deny the allegations in both cases.
New law makes charges possible
The fact that Picard and Valentino are allowed to go to court for the alleged incidents despite the expired statute of limitations has to do with the Adult Survivors Act, which was introduced at the end of 2022. California state law gives plaintiffs who claim they were sexually assaulted as an adult a one-year window to seek damages, regardless of how long ago the alleged crimes occurred.
More than 60 women have previously leveled various allegations against the comedian and actor, best known for playing Cliff Huxtable on sitcom The Cosby Show. Many of the allegations were time-barred, and Cosby had also rejected them. In 2018 he was convicted of sexual assault – to three to ten years in prison. He served more than two years of imprisonment. Then the verdict was overturned due to a procedural error, and he was released in June 2021.