Five women have filed a lawsuit against Bill Cosby, accusing the disgraced actor and comedian of sexual assault.According to FOX News, the lawsuit comes more than a year after Cosby was released from prison after being convicted of sexual misconduct in Pennsylvania in 2018.The complaint was filed under New York’s recently-enacted Adult Survivors Act, which provides the adult victims of sexual assault with a one-year window to file civil claims against alleged perpetrators and enablers.The Adult Survivors Act allows victims to, in many cases, file claims that would have otherwise been barred by the Empire State’s statute of limitations.FOX reports that the plaintiffs in the lawsuit are Lili Bernard, Eden Tirl, Jewel Gittens, Jennifer Thompson, and Cindra Ladd.The five women claim that they were individually assaulted by Cosby after meeting him on-set or through entertainment contacts.The alleged sexual assaults reportedly occurred over a period of decades, with claims cited between the late 1960s and 1990s."It was well-known that Bill Cosby would regularly take young women into his dressing room, and when you read the complaint, you'll see there were instances where staff saw this happening and even encouraged the plaintiff to submit," said attorney Jordan Rutsky, who is representing each of the victims.

Gavel on copy of lawsuit; image by Wirestock, via Freepik.com.

“This was not a hidden secret that Bill Cosby was doing these things,” the lawyer added. “It was just accepted.”The lawsuit further accuses NBC, Kaufman Astoria Studios, and Carsey-Werner Television of “[facilitating] the sexual assault of women” by failing to limit Cosby’s power or take disciplinary action against the actor.Several of the lawsuit’s claims suggest that Cosby drugged the women using pills or powder slipped into drinks.Andrew Wyatt, an attorney for Cosby, dismissed the complaint, saying that the “accusers have resurfaced to file a frivolous civil lawsuit.”Wyatt said that the women may be hoping to secure easy settlements from the corporate defendants, which they could then use to finance protracted litigation against Cosby.“We believe that the courts as well as the court of public opinion will follow the rules of law and relieve Mr. Cosby of these alleged accusations,” Wyatt added.“Mr. Cosby continues to vehemently deny all allegations waged against him and looks forward to defending himself in court,” he said.Cosby, notes NBC News, was released from a Pennsylvania prison in June of 2021 after the state’s high court overturned his conviction for three felony counts of aggravated indecent assault.In its judgment, the state’s Supreme Court said that Cosby’s rights against self-incrimination were clearly violated when a prosecutor refused to press a case against the actor in 2014, allowing Cosby to speak freely in a civil lawsuit.However, a second prosecutor then used Cosby’s civil testimony to successfully press charges against the actor.The testimony, adds NBC News, was critical in securing a conviction for purportedly drugging and assaulting Andrea Constand in 2004.Cosby spent three years in prison before the court’s ruling was overturned.

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Bill Cosby, NBC, studio face new sex abuse lawsuit from five women in New YorkFive women file lawsuit against Bill Cosby, accusing him of sexual assault