Janice Dickinson Scores Legal Victory Over Bill Cosby

The Blast

By TheBlast Staff

November 21, 2017

Link to Article

Janice Dickinson will have her day in court with Bill Cosby after a judge ruled today that she can continue forward with her lawsuit against Cosby and his lawyer, Marty Singer.

Dickinson had previously sued Cosby for defamation after the comedian called her a liar following her accusations of rape. She then added Singer to the suit after the lawyer issued a press release reiterating Cosby’s comments.

Dickinson’s case was initially dismissed, but she appealed. Today, an appellate court issued an order saying that the lower court erred in tossing the case out and Dickinson has shown enough evidence to demonstrate the case has merit.

Dickinson’s lawsuit centered around a demand letter Singer had sent to various media outlets threatening them with a lawsuit if they reported on Dickinson’s claims, and a press release characterizing her rape accusations as a lie. The appellate court ruled Dickinson has a case in regards to the demand letter, but upheld the lower court’s ruling to dismiss the claim in regards to the press release.

In doing so, the appellate court said of the demand letter, “At least for purposes of the present appeal, Cosby has waived any argument that Singer was not acting as his agent when he made the statements at issue in this case. When someone is publicly accused of rape, is asked for a response, and sends back a letter from counsel saying, ‘the alleged rape never happened,’ it is reasonable for the recipient of the letter to infer that the accused is, in fact, denying the rape.”

Dickinson’s attorney, Lisa Bloom, celebrated the ruling on Twitter, writing, “We have just learned that we won our appeal on behalf of our client Janice Dickinson against Bill Cosby. The court ruled for us on all three issues. Kudos to my Bloom Firm attorneys Jivaka Candappa and Avi Goldstein who worked on this defamation case with me for nearly 3 years.”

Singer’s appellate attorney, Jeremy Rosen, tells The Blast, “We disagree with the Court of Appeal’s decision permitting Mr. Singer to be named as a party, and are exploring all legal options, including whether to seek Supreme Court review. Ultimately, we feel confident that Mr. Singer will prevail on the merits if and when a court ever reaches those issues.”