A girl who mentioned Bill Cosby sexually assaulted her when she was a younger comedy author greater than 50 years in the past filed a lawsuit towards the actor Thursday below a soon-to-expire New York regulation that gave victims of sexual abuse a one-year window for claims that will in any other case be barred by deadlines.
Joan Tarshis initially got here ahead with allegations towards Cosby in 2014 which are repeated within the new lawsuit. Tarshis mentioned Cosby drugged her and compelled her to carry out oral intercourse on him in 1969 or 1970, after which drugged and raped her throughout one other encounter a 12 months or two later.
The New York resident was residing in California on the time of the primary assault and had met Cosby by a mutual good friend whereas he was starring in “The Bill Cosby Show,” in accordance with the lawsuit, filed in state Supreme Court in New York City.
A spokesperson for Cosby didn’t handle the specifics of Tarshis’s claims.
“Diddy, LA Reid, Steven Tyler, and now they circle back to this,” spokesperson Andrew Wyatt mentioned, referring to others lately sued below New York’s Adult Survivors Act. “When is it going to stop?”
Cosby, 86, has been accused of rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment by greater than 60 girls. He has denied all allegations involving intercourse crimes. He was the primary movie star tried and convicted within the #MeToo period and spent almost three years at a state jail close to Philadelphia earlier than a better court docket overturned the conviction and launched him in 2021.
Tarshis was among the many first accusers to talk publicly about Cosby, whom she met when she was 19 and simply breaking into comedy writing. An interview she did with CNN newsman Don Lemon quickly after she got here ahead drew a flurry of consideration on social media, and an apology from Lemon. While on-air, the host recommended Tarshis may have bitten Cosby on his genitals through the first assault, one thing Tarshis mentioned she hadn’t considered.
Tarshis beforehand sued Cosby in Massachusetts, the place Cosby had a house. She was amongst seven girls who filed defamation claims after Cosby branded them liars. The instances have been settled in 2019.
The new lawsuit alleges assault, battery, intentional infliction of emotional misery and false imprisonment. It seeks unspecified damages.
In it, Tarshis mentioned Cosby invited her to fulfill with him on the studio lot the place he was filming his present, below the pretense of engaged on a skit she was writing. Once in his bungalow, Tarshis mentioned she fell unconscious after accepting a drink from Cosby and awoke to seek out him undressing her earlier than forcing her to carry out oral intercourse.
“Ms Tarshis was mortified and feared for her life,” and returned to New York with out telling anybody what occurred, in accordance with the lawsuit.
She subsequent heard from Cosby in 1971, when he referred to as her residence, spoke together with her mom, and invited her to his present at Westbury Music Fair, the lawsuit mentioned.
“Though Ms. Tarshis was fearful at the prospect of seeing Cosby again, she had not yet told anyone, including her mother, of the prior sexual assault and she reluctantly agreed to meet with Cosby at the insistence of her mother,” in accordance with the lawsuit.
She mentioned she misplaced consciousness in a limousine Cosby had organized for them and awoke the subsequent morning in a mattress subsequent to Cosby, who she mentioned had undressed and raped her.
The Adult Survivors Act is about to run out subsequent week.
Antonio “L.A.” Reid, a music govt, was sued final week by an govt who alleges that Reid sexually assaulted her twice in 2001. Email and phone messages left for Joel Katz, an lawyer who represented Reid when the allegations surfaced in 2017, weren’t instantly returned Friday evening.
Sean “Diddy” Combs has denied allegations of rape and abuse introduced by a former girlfriend earlier this week.
Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler has not publicly responded to a lawsuit filed earlier this month.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”
