Currently facing criminal trial for felony aggravated sexual assault charges, Bill Cosby has decided to hold off on his civil defamation suit against Beverly Johnson.
The announcement was made in California on Thursday by Cosby’s lawyers who said in a statement, “The case has been voluntarily dismissed at this time due to the (pending) criminal proceedings inMontgomery County, PA, which impede Mr. Cosby’s ability to fully participate in litigating the civil case against Ms. Johnson.” The statement continued, “We fully expect to re-file the complaint against her prior to the expiration of the statute of limitations.”
Cosby initially filed the suit due to an excerpt from Beverly Johnson’s memoir The Face That Changed It All: A Memoir. In the memoir, Johnson recounts her firsthand experience with Cosby. She recalls a time when she reportedly visited him at his home and began feeling dizzy after drinking a cup of cappuccino Cosby offered her. Johnson then went on to describe how she let out a slur of degrading remarks to which Cosby did not appreciate. The model claims her use of profanities is what prevented Cosby from sexually assaulting her, and instead, dragging her down the stairs and putting her in a taxi that took her to her apartment.
According to Cosby, however, Johnson is trying to “resuscitate her own career and benefit herself financially from the wave of media attention surrounding her false allegations.”
Cosby is set to appear in court on March 8 for a pre-trial hearing for charges in relation to the Andrea Constand case, which occurred in 2004.
SOURCE: USA Today | PHOTO CREDIT: Getty
Bill Cosby Temporarily Drops Lawsuit Against Beverly Johnson was originally published on globalgrind.com