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The
alleged assaults took place between 1979 and 1992 in various
locations in Nevada, including in Cosby's backstage dressing
room and his Las Vegas hotel suite, according to the lawsuit,
which was filed on Wednesday in federal court in Nevada.
The complaint arrived just weeks after the state enacted a "lookback"
law eliminating a two-year window for sexual assault victims to
bring civil claims, following the lead of several other states.
More than 60 women have leveled accusations stretching back
decades against Cosby, who was once known as "America's Dad" for
his role in the 1980s television comedy "The Cosby Show."
Now 85, Cosby was the first celebrity to be convicted in the #MeToo
era, when a Pennsylvania jury found him guilty in 2018 of
sexually assaulting Andrea Constand, an employee at his alma
mater Temple University in Philadelphia, in 2004.
He spent three years in a Pennsylvania prison before the state's
Supreme Court threw out his case in 2021, ruling that he should
not have faced charges after striking a non-prosecution deal
with a previous district attorney years earlier.
In a statement, Cosby's spokesperson, Andrew Wyatt, criticized "lookback"
laws and said his accusers "are not fighting for victims - but
for their addiction to massive amounts of media attention and
greed."
The Nevada lawsuit accuses Cosby of drugging each victim with
drinks or pills before assaulting them, a pattern that matches
allegations from other women, including Constand.
Cosby faces other legal claims as well. A former Playboy model
sued him this month, alleging he assaulted her in 1969. The
plaintiff is taking advantage of a California law that lifted
the statute of limitations on such claims.
Lili Bernard, one of the plaintiffs in Nevada, has separately
sued Cosby in New Jersey for an alleged assault in 1990 under a
similar law.
Last year, a California jury found that Cosby sexually assaulted
teenager Judy Huth at the Playboy Mansion in 1975 and ordered
him to pay her $500,000.
(Reporting by Joseph Ax; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
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