A day after losing an appeal that would have stopped his criminal case in Pennsylvania, embattled entertainer Bill Cosby filed a lawsuit against the rape accuser at the center of the controversy.
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The breach-of-contract suit filed this month also lists Constand’s mother, Gianna, who was party to Constand’s confidentiality agreement as a defendant as well as American Media Inc., publisher of the National Enquirer.
Constand, 42, stepped forward in 2005 and said Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted her when she was a Temple University employee visiting his suburban Philadelphia mansion in 2004.
Both lawyers testified at the hearing two weeks ago in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court in which Cosby’s lawyers failed in their bid to persuade a judge to dismiss the aggravated indecent assault charges against him.
Now free on $1 million bail, Cosby could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted as charged.
As part of their investigation, the prosecutors interviewed Andrea, her mother and obtained files from her lawyer. Even more damning, Cosby answered “Yes” when asked: “When you got the Quaaludes, was it in your mind that you were going to use these Quaaludes for young women that you wanted to have sex with?”
Constand and her lawyers Dolores Troiani and Bebe Kivitz have fought with Cosby and his lawyers over the terms of the pact, and called on U.S. District Judge Eduardo Robreno several times to determine whether either side had breached the settlement.
But the statute of limitations has expired in most of the cases against him.
Cosby went to the hearing to explore whether he had a promise from the prior district attorney he would not receive charges regarding the encounter with Constand. The case was settled in 2006, but amid other women coming forward with similar stories about Cosby, the Constand case was re-ignited upon the revelation of what Cosby had said in a deposition in the civil lawsuit.
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Troiani mentioned during Cosby’s recent criminal hearing that Cosby had sued her, but she did not elaborate. That would have likely delayed the scheduled March 8 preliminary hearing. It’s unclear who represents Boca Raton, Florida-based publisher American Media Inc.
