PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Bill Cosby is using secret court filings to try to bully and intimidate the accuser and other witnesses in his criminal sex-assault case, the woman’s lawyers charged in a new court filing.
Cosby filed a sealed lawsuit this month against accuser Andrea Constand the day before a key pretrial hearing in the criminal case. He said the Canadian massage therapist had violated the settlement of their confidential 2005 civil suit when she talked to police, who reopened the criminal case last year.
Cosby, 78, demanded that Constand repay the settlement money along with interest and damages. The amount of the 2006 settlement remains private.
The comedian and actor also sued Constand’s mother and lawyers, who were likewise bound by the confidential settlement. The Feb. 1 suit was filed a day before lawyers Dolores Troiani and Bebe Kivitz testified against Cosby in his bid to have the criminal charges thrown out.
“By repeated filings ‘under seal,’ Cosby has created a shadow court system, in which he is free to make any inconsistent and opposing allegations he chooses without the deterrent of public scrutiny,” Troiani wrote in a response filed late Monday to the lawsuit.