Bill Cosby will have his day in court

[G-Man]

Janice Dickinson is suing him for defamation over Cosby's denial that he raped her.

I don't know how she can win this. It's classic he-said-she-said stuff. But this could be spectacular nevertheless, regardless of the verdict.

Surely there'll be a line-up of women testifying under oath to having been raped by Cosby in circumstances similar to Dickinson's. More might come forward yet. It'll be hard to conclude that Cosby is not a rapist.

Cosby taking the stand would be the cherry on top, though I doubt he and his legal team will be as crazy as that.

Can he be forced to be in court?

[DCI Harry Batt]

Bill Cosby will have his day in court

Be interesting to see how this pans out. String it out so he carries on getting away with it until he's too old / dead?

[Jah Womble]

Bill Cosby will have his day in court

That crossed my mind when I read this earlier: Cosby is 77 now, so there'll likely be some serious stalling until he can be deemed unfit (in the physical sense, at least) to face trial.

[Janik]

Bill Cosby will have his day in court

He wouldn't be facing trial in the strictly legal sense, its the issue that is tried in a civil case and not the person, so that sort of issue shouldn't count. But by the same token, I doubt there is any way of compelling him to be present.
It will take ages for it to get to court, as his lawyers will try all sorts to get it struck out before the trial stage, which they look to have good hopes of doing. As G-Man notes, it feels a bit of a stretch, though of course being a civil suit it only needs to be 51% likely to succeed. Cosby's lawyers main aim might be to get his name removed from the list of defendants, as it isn't even "he said, she said". It's his lawyer said, she said.

It'll be hard to conclude that Cosby is not a rapist.

The court of public opinion has already delivered it's verdict on that one, surely. Is there anyone who doubts for a second that Cosby is a serial rapist? Which doesn't mean get a court judgement along those lines is worthless, far from it. But the case is truly closed insofar as everyone knowing him for what he is.

[Pietro Paolo Virdis]

Bill Cosby will have his day in court

He should be in court for his shit comedy alone

[G-Man]

Bill Cosby will have his day in court

Janik wrote:
It'll be hard to conclude that Cosby is not a rapist.

The court of public opinion has already delivered it's verdict on that one, surely. Is there anyone who doubts for a second that Cosby is a serial rapist? Which doesn't mean get a court judgement along those lines is worthless, far from it. But the case is truly closed insofar as everyone knowing him for what he is.

Seeing as Dickinson says she received a storm of hate mail, it seems public opinion is not undivided.

[Incandenza]

Bill Cosby will have his day in court

He did not seem to be all there in his recent interview when he was asked about the numerous accusations, but maybe he was just fumbling for words to dance around it.

[ursus arctos]

Bill Cosby will have his day in court

I'd also note that Cosby continues to sell out venues for his stand up (most of which he now seems to deliver sitting down).

There are a lot of enablers out there.

[Janik]

Bill Cosby will have his day in court

ursus, as someone with some actual expertise on this subject, what do you make of the questions in G-Man's opening post? What are the chances of the suit winning, and Cosby be compelled to at least attend the hearings?

[ursus arctos]

Bill Cosby will have his day in court

I obviously haven't read the complaint, but I don't fully understand her claim.

A significant initial hurdle will be for her to prove that Cosby caused his agents to issue the denials; he doesn't seem to have said anything.

Parties in interest rarely attend hearings in civil litigation here. Should it get that far, Cosby could be required to give a deposition under oath.

[G-Man]

Bill Cosby will have his day in court

I understand it was his lawyer who accused her of lying. He presumably did so in the course of representing Cosby, who instructs him. Therefore, I assume, it's not a case of somebody random in Cosby's circle having allegedly libeled Dickinson, but somebody speaking on his behalf.

[ursus arctos]

Bill Cosby will have his day in court

But you have to prove all of that in a court of law, which is by no means self-evident.

[Janik]

Bill Cosby will have his day in court

The problem with conspiracies is proving that they are happening. See also implicating, or more like failing to implicate Ched Evans in the ongoing harassment of his victim.

Add in that you've got attorney-client privilege in this case as well, so forcing disclosure may be difficult (assuming such documents even exist, which they probably don't).

[G-Man]

Bill Cosby will have his day in court

ursus arctos wrote: But you have to prove all of that in a court of law, which is by no means self-evident.

I have a hunch that winning the libel suit isn't the primary objective of the exercise. I reckon it's about the message, not the outcome.

[Janik]

Bill Cosby will have his day in court

I'm sure you are right about the intent of the claims. But if they lose the suit against Cosby on the grounds that he hasn't himself defamed anyone, or it gets thrown out prior to trial, what message does that send? There will never be a criminal trial, so this would become spun as the reference point over where the claims have been neutrally tested.

Basically, they have to win now they've started. Getting a judgement against the lawyer that saying Dickinson is lying when she says she was raped would be something. But it wouldn't prevent people denying that Dickinson was raped, all it would do is prevent them saying she is lying when she claims that.

[ursus arctos]

Bill Cosby will have his day in court

G-man, the point is that the suit could very well get tossed at the first hurdle for the reasons I've mentioned.

[WOM]

Bill Cosby will have his day in court

I applaud the gesture, either way. Hopefully it gets through to him that, stand trial or not, he's going to have to address the accusations one way or another. And if that 'another' simply means not continuing to actively deny them, then so be it.

I don't hold out a shred of hope that he'll ever see a courtroom, much less a jail cell, but making his remaining days unpleasant would be a small start.

[Janik]

Bill Cosby will have his day in court

I don't think it will achieve that either. If it gets thrown out against him personally then he can continue to ignore and when pressed deny the accusations without (having his representatives) libelling people.
Saying someone is lying about something as serious as a rape allegation is a stain on their character, but saying they are wrong or somehow confused wouldn't be.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Bill Cosby will have his day in court

If he is dragged into a civil court to defend himself against a defamation claim for denying accusations of the criminal offence, and that case attracts lots of publicity (imagine he loses it) when they get round to prosecuting him for the actual criminal offence I would imagine his lawyers will make a merry dance about it now being impossible for him to have a fair trial.

[Janik]

Bill Cosby will have his day in court

He can't be criminally prosecuted, Rogin. The statute of limitations on these allegations has expired. Or he can't unless he has still be at it in the last ?seven years.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Bill Cosby will have his day in court

Ah, hadn't appreciated that. We obviously dno't have that over here (hence why we've just been locking people up for things they did in the early 1970s).

[Bored Of Education]

Bill Cosby will have his day in court

What on earth is a "pudding pop pitchman"? I am assuming it isn't a euphemism for his alleged crimes?

[WOM]

Bill Cosby will have his day in court

Heh. In the early '80s, he was the face on TV ads for Jello desserts. Always goofing around with a bunch of kids, making his faces and saying goofy 'dad' things. Jello Pudding Pops spots were some of his more famous ones.

[WOM]

Bill Cosby will have his day in court

Rogin the Armchair Fan wrote: Ah, hadn't appreciated that. We obviously dno't have that over here (hence why we've just been locking people up for things they did in the early 1970s).

I believe there is one case he can be tried for. One of the woman was 15 at the time in California, and there's no SOL for sex crimes against minors. Again, though, there might be insufficient evidence for a reasonable chance at conviction.

[Janik]

Bill Cosby will have his day in court

I think Britain is rather rare in not having a statute of limitations on sex crimes. Not having one on sex crimes against minors or it being a very long period is more common, but again nothing like universal.
Somewhere on line notes the average length of time for before a victim of childhood sexual abuse contacts the police is 24 years, how true this number is I'm not sure.