A new accuser has filed a lawsuit against Bill Cosby alleging he drugged and assaulted her in the late Eighties. She filed the paperwork, viewable via The Daily Beast, under the Adult Survivors Act, which offers victims a yearlong window to sue alleged abusers and the institutions that protected them, even if the statute of limitations would have otherwise ended.
The plaintiff, Morganne Picard, details a similar pattern to previous lawsuits against Cosby, claiming he won her confidence and then gave her drinks containing drugs that incapacitated her. “Upon information and belief, on the other occasions when Ms. Picard drank a beverage provided by Cosby and blacked out, Cosby raped or otherwise sexually assaulted her, without her consent and when she did not have the capacity to consent,” the suit says.
In the suit, Picard says that Cosby offered to help her career as a singer and invited her to The Cosby Show in 1987. Between that initial meeting and 1990, she claims Cosby gave her drinks and at one point she blacked out. “On one such occasion, Ms. Picard drank a beverage provided to her by Cosby at his home, and awoke to find herself in a hotel room, naked, with soreness in her vagina,” the suit alleges.
She believes, “Cosby undressed and raped her, without her consent and when she did not have the capacity to consent,” according to the suit.
“It is disappointing to see that these alleged distractors are able to monetize false allegations against Mr. Cosby,” Andrew Wyatt, a rep for Cosby, tells Rolling Stone. “Even more disturbing, the Merson Law Firm (New York City) decided to incite this lynching of this American Citizen. I am reminded of a photo a man hanging from a tree burning, as the plantation owner hosted a barbecue and party for the slaves as this Black Man was being roasted alive, without the sheer facts of any evidence, proof, truth or facts.
“The Merson Law Firm along with these alleged distractors are fueling false narratives for the potential of media fame and greed,” he continued. “Mr. Cosby continues to invoke his Constitutional Rights by saying, ‘Not Guilty’ and vehemently denying all of these alleged allegations waged against him.”
Other defendants in the suit include NBCUniversal, film studios Kaufman Astoria Studios and Astoria Studios LP II, and TV production company the Carsey-Werner Company. Specifically, Picard is suing Cosby for battery, assault, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. She’s suing the other defendants for negligence and negligent hiring.
Several women have accused Cosby of drugging and raping them over the years, and in 2014, many of them told their stories publicly for the first time. A 2015 New York magazine article collected the stories of nearly three dozen women. In 2018, a jury found him guilty of three counts of aggravated indecent assault against accuser Andrea Constand, and a judge sentenced him to 10 years in prison along with a fine. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned his conviction in 2021, citing trial error and a previous agreement with a prosecutor.
Since then, a jury found Cosby guilty of the sexual battery of a 16-year-old girl in the Seventies, awarding the plaintiff $500,000. Five more women sued Cosby for sexual assault this past December, another woman filed a suit in June, and nine women filed another suit that same month.