Almost a decade after Victoria Valentino first accused Bill Cosby of drugging and raping her, the former Playboy model is finally taking the man once known as America’s Dad to court.
“This case is about a prominent actor and comedian who used his notoriety and status to sexually assault an up-and-coming young female artist,” says the civil lawsuit for sexual assault and sexual battery filed today in LA Superior Court over the alleged 1969 attack (read it here).
“Defendant William ‘Bill’ Cosby utilized his power and authority over Plaintiff to sexual assault Plaintiff. Plaintiff has suffered severe emotional, physical, and psychological distress because of the sexual assault,” the jury trial seeking action adds. “Plaintiff brings this action to hold Defendant Cosby accountable for the harm he has caused her.”
A frequent attendee to Cosby’s criminal trials in Pennsylvania in 2017 and 2018 over the rape of onetime Temple University employee Andrea Constand, Valentino went public in 2014 with her tale of being attacked by Cosby decades before. Seeking a variety of damages, Valentino’s lawyers Jeff Anderson and Mick Ruck were able to file today’s graphic suit against Cosby, his agents, assistants and others under a recent California law lifted the statute of limitations on civil sex assault cases. That law is set to expire at the end of this year.
Describing a “late 1969” dinner at Sneaky Pete’s steakhouse with a friend and Cosby not long after the drowning of Valentino’s six-year-old son, the plaintiff’s suit goes into detail about what happened after the women took some pills provided by the comedian and the trio went to his LA office to “show them his awards”:
Cosby brought Plaintiff and her friend to a second floor office and unlocked the door. Inside was a small desk and lamp, framed posters of Cosby in I Spy, a telephone, and two small couches. Plaintiff’s friend staggered to one couch and laid down and immediately passed out. Plaintiff sat down on the other couch and closed her eyes.
When Plaintiff opened her eyes, she saw Cosby sitting on the couch, adjacent to her unconscious friend’s hips. Cosby was staring at Plaintiff’s friend with a predatory intensity while Plaintiff’s friend laid on the couch unconscious. Plaintiff panicked and saw Cosby had an erection. Plaintiff knew Cosby was about to assault her friend, so Plaintiff attempted to distract Cosby by reaching out towards him to get his attention. Plaintiff tried speaking but her words made no sense due to the effects of the pills Cosby had given Plaintiff.
Cosby finally became angry and exasperated by Plaintiff’s efforts to thwart his assault on her friend, and Cosby stood up and walked towards Plaintiff with a terrifying expression on his face. Plaintiff attempted to stand up, but her legs wobbled and buckled beneath her, and she reached out to Cosby to prevent herself from falling to the floor.
Cosby sat down on the couch and unzipped his pants. Cosby forced his penis into Plaintiff’s mouth. Cosby then stood Plaintiff up, turned Plaintiff around and engaged in forced sexual intercourse with Plaintiff.
Plaintiff was incapable of consent by reason of being drugged by Cosby and physically helpless.
After the sexual assault, Cosby pushed Plaintiff down on the couch, zipped his pants up and walked out the door telling Plaintiff and her friend to “Call a cab!”
Plaintiff shook her friend awake and they attempted to use the phone inside the office, but it was a prop phone and there was no phone jack. Plaintiff and her friend ran out of the office building, disoriented, trying to figure out their location. They finally found a cab to take them back to Plaintiff’s house.
In a separate statement, Valentino says” “Bill Cosby exploited me when I was at my lowest point and was consumed by grief. Not only did he assault me, but the trauma caused my career in the performing arts to completely derail.” She added: I hope this serves as my legacy to my family, and shows those survivors who have yet to find their voices, that hope and healing are possible.”
More than 60 women have claimed over the years that Cosby drugged and assaulted them with a similar combo of pills and alcohol as Valentino’s suit alleges. Most recently, a New York law similar to the one in the Golden State lifting statute of limitations requirements allowed two former The Cosby Show actresses and three other women to sue Cosby and NBCUniversal sexual assault and battery last December.
Like with that Empire State case, Cosby’s representatives pushed back hard on today’s suit by Valentino. “Victoria Valentino has skirted from town to town promoting her alleged allegations against Mr. Cosby to anyone that would give her platform, without any proof or facts,” said Andrew Wyatt in a statement on behalf of Cosby. “It’s unfortunate that media has not vetted the inconsistencies in her many statements. However, it’s more deeply disturbing and disappointing that our lawmakers would push forward these ‘Look Back Windows’, which are a sheer violation of all American’s Constitutional Rights. Statutes of Limitations reside in The Constitution, in order to protect those who are victims of a crime and to protect those that are accused of a crime.”
Sentenced to up to 10 years behind bars by a Keystone State judge in 2018 after a second trial for the rape of Constand, the now 85-year-old Cosby had his conviction tossed out in June 2021. After a series of failed appeals and legal loophole maneuvers by the much accused comedian and his revolving door team of laywers, a majority of the Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court’s seven justices ruled two years ago that then-Montgomery County D.A. Bruce Castor’s decision not to prosecute Cosby in 2005 after investigating Constand’s original claim did in fact carry a binding legal weight.
Cosby immediately lost his sex predator label and was freed from prison, The Cosby Show creator cannot be retried on the same charges. In March 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court denied a petition request from now Montgomery D.A Kevin Steele to review the case. That ended the Constand case unless any new and/or overwhelming evidence comes forward.
Last September, Cosby lost his attempt at a retrial over Judy Huth’s accusation that he sexually assaulted her at the Playboy Mansion when the plaintiff was a minor in the 1970s. A Santa Monica jury brought back a verdict for Huth in that civil case on June 21, 2022 on June 21. The 12-person panel awarded Huth $500,000 in damages – of which she has not seen a dime from Bill Cosby.
