JUDGE KEEPS DICKINSON’S CLAIMS AGAINST COSBY ALIVE

On July 11, 2018, a California judge rejected Bill Cosby’s request to dismiss Janice Dickinson’s defamation suit saying “the ‘heart’ of her allegation that Cosby falsely painted her rape allegations as lies would move forward.”
 
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Randolph Hammock issued a 21-page ruling partially granting and partially denying Cosby’s motions to dismiss and to strike the complaint, which focused on a press statement by Cosby’s former attorney Martin Singer of Lavely & Singer. The press statement was issued by Cosby’s lawyer the day after Dickinson did a television interview in which she disclosed that Cosby drugged and raped her in Lake Tahoe in 1982.
 
Judge Hammock dismissed Dickinson’s claims for intentional infliction of emotional distress and false light, and struck portions of the defamation claim, but kept the claim alive regarding Martin Singer’s two statements (e.g., one where he stated “women were coming forward with ‘fantastical stories about things they say occurred 30, 40, or even 50 years ago,” and a second where he stated “Dickinson’s ‘alleged rape’ was ‘fabricated,’ ‘an outrageous defamatory lie’ concocted to advance her ‘fading career.’”)
 
Judge Hammock also granted the motion to strike under California’s anti-SLAPP statute as to Singer individually, finding that Dickinson had no way to prove Singer knew the statement was false because his communications with Cosby are protected by the attorney-client privilege.
 
The case is Janice Dickinson v. William H. Cosby Jr., case number BC580909, in the Superior Court of the State of California for the County of Los Angeles.
 
* Lowe & Associates (“The Firm”) is a boutique entertainment and business litigation firm located in Beverly Hills, California. The Firm has extensive experience handling cases involving entertainment law, having provided top quality legal services to its clients since 1991. The Firm is recognized in multiple publications for its many achievements and high ethical standards, including Martindale-Hubbell and Super Lawyers magazine.
 
Find us at our website at www.LoweLaw.com

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