Bill Cosby’s attorney calls sexual assault allegation ‘patently false’

In court documents filed Thursday, Bill Cosby’s attorney called a woman’s allegation that the comedian sexually assaulted her at the Playboy Mansion decades ago “patently false” and asked for her lawsuit to be dismissed.

Attorney Martin D. Singer accused Judy Huth of suing Cosby after he rejected an “outrageous demand for money in order not to make her allegations public,” according to the documents. Singer said Huth’s attorney first demanded the comedian pay Huth $100,000, then $250,000.

Huth filed her lawsuit in Los Angeles on Tuesday, accusing the comedian of assaulting her in 1976, when she was 15. She said that he made her drink beer as they played billiards, then led her to the Playboy Mansion.

Huth said she only recently discovered her “psychological injuries and illnesses were caused by the sexual abuse.”

Huth’s attorney did not return multiple requests for comment.

The lawsuit is believed to be the first filed against the embattled 77-year-old comedian during a new wave of sexual assault accusations publicly made by numerous women.

Cosby’s attorney argued that Huth’s lawsuit should be dismissed because the case had passed the deadline for filing a legal claim and she didn’t file paperwork from a mental health practitioner stating there was a “reasonable basis to believe” Huth had been abused as a child.

“The problem with [Huth’s] allegations (in addition to the fact that they are patently false) is that they are 40 years old; and therefore, are inherently unreliable,” Singer wrote.

Singer said Huth “unsuccessfully tried to sell her story to the tabloids nearly a decade ago,” according to the documents. The attorney also dismissed Huth’s allegation that she played a drinking game with the comedian, describing Cosby as a “lifelong non-drinker.”

He asked that the judge dismiss Huth’s claims and order her to pay $33,000 to cover Cosby’s legal fees.

Also on Thursday, Los Angeles police Chief Charlie Beck said that although his department had not fielded any accusations against Cosby, his detectives were prepared to investigate any should they arise. The chief said investigators would look into any allegations, even if they were beyond the legal deadline for prosecution.

He noted that although a potential investigation wouldn’t result in criminal charges, it could be used in a civil trial “or a number of other things.”

“We don’t turn people away because things are out of statute. You come to us, especially with a sexual allegation, we will work with you,” Beck said. “We address these things seriously, and it’s not just because it’s Mr. Cosby.”

On Wednesday, attorney Gloria Allred called on Cosby to either waive the statute of limitations as a legal defense to allow his accusers to pursue civil litigation or put $100 million in a fund and allow a panel of retired judges to determine the validity of the claims. She was accompanied by three women who said they were assaulted or groped by Cosby in the 1970s and ‘80s.

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