Correct me if I am mistaken, but I believe those women with claims against Cosby have yet to file a Civil Suit against him which, I’m fairly certain, has no statute of limitations. So why didn’t these women drag him into court on Civil torts as opposed to going to the press? In fact, going to the press might even weaken their case(s) instead of speaking only to their lawyers to formulate a case against him. What’s the Straight Dope, if it can be known?
because they’re lying?
Honestly I’m amazed that people act like these stories are anything but ridiculous. Decades later and they’re making claims. It doesn’t take a genius to understand that the media will pay people for stories, real or fake.
The worst they ever found out was cheating on Mr. Cosby’s part. But cheating isn’t rape.
I heard something on the radio today where they were pondering trying to get the civil case statute of limitations revised, so I suppose there is some sort of applicable statute of limitations.
Since it probably can’t be known, let’s move this to IMHO.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
Not only is there a time limit, but all things considered, it isn’t that long.
Even today, after it was revealed that Cosby testified under oath that he purchased drugs for the purpose of having sex with women, you think all those women are lying?
By the way, it’s been widely reported that Cosby reached an out-of-court settlement with a woman who accused him of the sort of rape that so many other women have claimed. That’s not just cheating - it’s rape. A woman sued him for it, and he agreed to pay her compensation. This has been in the news for months.
As others have said, there is a statute of limitations for filing a civil lawsuit. It varies between jurisdictions but it’s apparently usually two years from the time of the assault. So Cosby can’t be sued for any rapes he committed prior to 2013.
(One exception is if a minor is raped. They have eight years from their 18th birthday to file a lawsuit.)
Since when has settling of a lawsuit been the same as an admission of guilt?
There has been reams and reams written here about the expense of contesting a lawsuit, and the nature of the “gamble” that you are taking -
This is Bill Cosby. You think he can’t afford to hire a legal team?
One, why should he have to?
People settle all the time for plenty of reasons that have nothing to do with “guilt” or “innocence.”
Maybe he doesn’t want his infidelity to be public, and the nondisclosure clause is worth more than the difference between settlement funds and cost of defense.
Maybe he has other things in the works and a trial will jeapordize those, whether by bad publicity ot time commitments, and a liberal application of money can avoid that.
Two, maybe it wasn’t him driving the settlement discussions.
Maybe she doesn’t want what’s left of her dignity to be dragged through the mud, so she’ll take less money (as a proxy for “justice”) to avoid that pain.
Maybe she’s lying and knows that a jury will find her out but the defendant will pay a premium to avoid summary judgment motions or trial.
Three, the narrative will be whatever those who have already come to a decision want it to be.
Even if he wins, the narrative for his detractors is “his high-priced lawyers fooled the jury.” So there is no benefit to him.
For the record- I think Cosby did it, and I think he did it to a lot of women. But the argument that “he settled, he must have done something” has no legs at all. Less than 2% of civil suits here in CA go to trial, and there’s a reason for that.
That’s not the only fact that people are relying on. We get to judge the totality of the circumstances ourselves. There’s the settlement in the case 10 years ago, there are the dozen-or-so women who were ready to testify against him in that case, there are the additional dozen-or-so women who have gone public recently, there are the numerous stories from people in the entertainment industry about his professional behavior, there is now the deposition evidence from the prior court proceeding, …
We as the public aren’t required to sit around suspending our judgment on this one.
I was responding to bengangmo’s post where he said that people settled lawsuits because of the expense. I was pointing out that this unlikely to have been a factor in any lawsuit involving Cosby. He could afford the cost of a trial if he chose to.
There MAY yet be lawsuits, but bear in mind that any woman who sues Cosby is opening herself up to potential embarrassment.
According to most of his victims, Cosby wasn’t doping women in bars or public places and dragging them back to his bedroom. Rather, many women willingly came back to his room and had (spiked) drinks with him there.
Right there, women Cosby may have doped are in a bind. Circumstantial evidence suggests that a lot of these women were flirting with a married man and went back to his room with him of their own accord. Since many of these women were actresses, Cosby’s attorneys could tear them apart on the stand, making them look like sluts who slept with a man they hoped could advance their careers.
Small wonder that many of them have, apparently, gotten out of court cash settlements.
So what? The cost of settling could easily be far less than the cost of a successful defense. Few people want to pay more than necessary even if they can afford it. And as already mentioned, the people who want him to be guilty are going to believe he’s guilty even if he wins.
Nobody wants to believe he’s guilty. Cosby’s a popular well-liked figure. Nobody wants to think that he’s actually a serious criminal.
The only reason some people are thinking he’s guilty is because there is strong evidence that he is guilty. These people are looking at the evidence and forming a conclusion despite it being a conclusion they don’t want to believe.
I grew up with Bill Cosby. I watched “Fat Albert” since before I can remember. My friends and I rolled around on the floor listening to his comedy albums. When I was in high school, my family watched “The Cosby Show” together instead of “Magnum P.I.” on Thursday evenings.
A lot of my personal experiences are tied up with Bill Cosby. There are several types of experiences that I can’t talk about without referring to a Bill Cosby bit I heard on eight-track tape when I was a kid. When the allegations first surfaced 10 years ago, I, like almost everyone else, decided to ignore and forget about them.
Of course I don’t want to believe that the allegations are true. But to go on pretending they aren’t would require me to put blinders on. There are more than forty accusers now. I simply cannot go on believing that there’s nothing to these allegations. One accuser is enough legal evidence to lock up the run-of-the-mill convicted rapist.
This whole situation is horrifying, not only for Cosby’s victims, but in a much smaller way for me personally and for everyone else who grew up loving him. And even more horrifying is that it’s very likely that Cosby will never face justice. The least we can do is made him suffer social consequences.
Because settling against such heinous accusations will always make it seem like you did it. Especially when you admit to “consensually” giving women quaaludes to have sex with them. Yes, forty women agreed to become unable to move or remember what happened in order for him to have sex with him.
I mean, that’s exactly the defense you give to cover things up.
Oh, and his infidelity is already out.
You’re mistaken.
You’re very badly mistaken.
You’re mistaken about civil suits not being filed. And you’re mistaken about civil suits not having a statute of limitations. Most civil suits have a limited period in which to file ---- usually less time than a criminal statute of limitations. For example, the limit for liable/slander is as little as one year depending upon the jurisdiction. (As I have my own website, that’s something I’m very aware of.)
And you haven’t been really following the news on this case since you thought no woman had filed as mention of those lawsuits have been frequent since they were filed. :rolleyes: Aside from the suit that Cosby settled (and linked earlier in this thread), Janice Dickinson’s filed a defamation suit. (After the partial deposition was released there were news stories that Dickinson would drop her lawsuit if Cosby would apologize for what he did.) So have three other women. They can’t sue him for the (alleged) rape, but, ironically, because Cosby (or his lawyers) didn’t just issue a statement saying that there would be no comment on the accusations, what they did say in their portrayal of the accusers swung the door open on a defamation lawsuit — filed within the limited period to file such a lawsuit. If they get a judgment against Cosby that he defamed them (about the rapes never happening), then they have a de facto civil decision that the rapes did happen.
Only to the stupid, or at least uninformed. And a public five day trial will make it seem like he did it, too.
Like everyone who’s been paying attention, I think Cosby did it. But Happy Scrappy Hero Pup is absolutely right.