Pop Goes The News — Bill Cosby is suing the Canadian woman whose 2005 sexual assault accusation led to the criminal charge he currently faces.
The 78-year-old comedian filed a breach-of-contract lawsuit against Andrea Constand, her mother Gianna Constand, and lawyer Dolores Troiani, alleging they violated the confidentiality of a decade-old civil settlement.
Cosby’s lawsuit, which also names National Enquirer parent company American Media Inc., remains under seal.
He filed the lawsuit on Feb. 1, one day before a hearing in Pennsylvania related to the charge of aggravated indecent assault filed against Cosby in December.
A preliminary hearing for the criminal case is scheduled for March 8. If convicted, Cosby could be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison.
Constand met Cosby in 2002 while working as director of operations for the women’s basketball program at Philadelphia’s Temple University. She regularly attended dinners at Cosby’s home in Elkins Park, a tony suburb of Philadelphia.
Constand alleged that on a night in January 2004, Cosby drugged her and then touched her breasts and crotch and put her hand on his penis.
She returned to Canada a few months later but kept in contact with Cosby, even bringing her parents to see him perform at Casino Rama.
In January 2005, she filed a complaint against Cosby with the Durham Regional Police, who referred the case to police in Pennsylvania.
No criminal charges were filed.
Cosby later gave an exclusive interview about Constand’s allegations to the National Enquirer in exchange for the tabloid agreeing not to publish similar allegations from another woman.
Constand filed a civil suit against Cosby, claiming “battery, assault, intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress, defamation and false light/invasion of privacy.” The two sides reached a confidential settlement in November 2006.
Constand, who is gay, works as a registered massage therapist in Toronto. On Wednesday night she tweeted: “Forgiveness brings peace.”
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