It’s hard to keep track of all the Cosby cases lately. But there is one matter less, reports the New York Daily News, as a model who sued comedian Bill Cosby for an alleged assault at the Playboy Mansion in 2008 has moved to dismiss her suit without prejudice.
The filing by Chloe Goins in a Los Angeles federal court was short and did not elaborate on the model’s reasons for dropping her claim, but it did reserve the right to file again. Does her decision have to do with the fact that prosecutors declined to file criminal charges against Cosby for the assault after a year of investigation?
The Goins Case
Last October Chloe Goins filed a civil suit against Bill Cosby alleging that he spiked her drink at a Playboy Mansion party in 2008. She said she “blacked out” and woke up naked with the comedian at the foot of her bed, biting her toes and masturbating. Goins had the feeling that she had been licked all over.
“I have chosen to relive the ordeal of this deeply traumatic attack to expose the truth and bring justice for all the victims of sexual assault across the nation,” Goins said in a statement last year, according to New York Daily News. Cosby’s former lawyer last year said that Cosby was not even in Los Angeles at the mansion when Goins claims the assault occurred.
The model, 25 now, filed about 9 months after investigations began on a criminal charge. But the assault was alleged to have occurred in 2008 and prosecutors ultimately declined to charge Cosby for it criminally. Now Goins has filed this dismissal without prejudice on the civil suit, meaning she might file again but for now has decided not to pursue the claim.
Can Cosby Clear His Name?
Although the dismissal is probably welcome news to Cosby and his legal team, who are in civil disputes with alleged victims of sexual assaults from coast to coast, and the entertainer’s insurers, and have more than enough action to keep them busy. Late last year, Cosby was also criminally charged with aggravated indecent assault for a 2004 incident in Pennsylvania with Andrea Constand.
Meanwhile, yesterday Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Craig Karlan reportedly ordered Cosby to sit for a second deposition in a civil suit filed by Judith Huth after Cosby refused to answer relevant questions in the first deposition in October. Huth’s allegations stem from a 1974 incident that sounds a lot like the case Goins just dropped. Huth claims that Cosby assaulted her at the Playboy Mansion in LA when she was just 15 years old.
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Related Resources:
- Cosby Complains in Court: Insurer Threatens Defamation Defense (FindLaw’s Celebrity Justice)
- Cosby’s Lawyers Angry About Deposition Release (FindLaw’s Celebrity Justice)
- Janice Dickinson Sues Bill Cosby for Defamation (FindLaw’s Celebrity Justice)