Bill Cosby Scandal Update: Andrea Constand Wants Cosby's 'Bullying Tactics' Stopped, New Court Filings Reveal
Sexual assault accuser Andrea Constand wants to put an end to American entertainer Bill Cosby's "bullying tactics" in court.
According to federal court documents filed by Constand's lawyers Dolores Troiani and Bebe Kivitz on Monday, Feb. 22, the 78-year-old actor/comedian's filing of a breach of contract lawsuit against Constand and her mother, Gianna, constitutes "bullying." Cosby's lawyers filed the breach of contract lawsuit prior to the Feb. 22 hearing on Constand's sexual assault case.
Cosby was previously charged with aggravated indecent assault for a January 2004 incident in which he allegedly drugged and sexually assaulted Constand at his Elkins Park, Pennsylvania residence.
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On Monday, Constand filed a motion in federal court to force the unsealing of Cosby's new complaint. The accuser is also seeking to undermine Cosby's "bullying tactics" by having the courts void the confidentiality agreement from the civil case that she settled with "The Cosby Show" creator in 2006.
According to Cosby's breach of contract lawsuit, Constand broke the 2006 confidentiality agreement by cooperating with the criminal inquiry that resulted in his arrest in December 2015.
"Andrea Constand is the victim of Cosby's criminal conduct," Constand's attorneys wrote. "Because he has money and power and celebrity status, Cosby is no less a citizen subject to the jurisdiction of the courts."
According to the lawyers, as neither Constand nor her mother possesses any of those attributes, "The only protection available to them is for the court to shield them from the bullying tactics of Cosby."
"The inescapable message of this lawsuit is that if Andrea Constand, her mother and/or her counsel testify in the criminal case, Cosby will do his best to misuse the court system to hurt them," Troiani and Kibitz wrote.
Cosby has yet to enter a plea in the case filed against him by Constand and claims that the sexual contact with the accuser was consensual. He has been accused of rape, sexual battery, sexual misconduct, and/or drug facilitated sexual assault by at least 59 other women.
