A former Playboy Playmate’s lawsuit against comedian Bill Cosby, alleging he drugged and raped her in 1969 in his office, should be dismissed for violation of the statute of limitations as well as the state and federal constitutions, the comedian’s attorneys argue in new court papers.
The plaintiff in the Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit is Victoria Valentino, also known as Victoria Carbe-Chen. She seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages in her complaint filed June 5, alleging sexual assault and battery.
“This case is about a prominent actor and comedian who used his notoriety and status to sexually assault an up-and-coming female artist,” Valentino’s suit states.
But in court papers filed Friday, Cosby’s attorneys argue that claims must be dismissed in lawsuits when the Sexual Abuse and Cover Up Accountability Act violates the Special Law Clause of the California constitution. AB2777 went into effect a year ago and gives some adult survivors more time to file lawsuits in cases with expired statutes of limitations.
The California constitution forbids the use of the Sexual Abuse and Cover Up Accountability Act where it singles out a single class, namely victims of sexual assault, and provides them with special privileges, according to Cosby’s attorneys’ court papers, which further state that the act violates Cosby’s rights under both the state and federal constitutions by taking away a statute of limitations defense previously available to him.
In addition, Valentino does not claim to have been a minor at the time of the assault and so the viability of her claims hinges on the limitations rules set out in a part of the state Code of Civil Procedure, Cosby’s attorneys argue in their court papers.
The CCP section at issue states that a civil action to recover such damages must be filed within 10 years from the date of the last act or within three years of the plaintiff discovering her damages, whichever is later, according to Cosby’s lawyers court papers.
“The alleged assault in this case took place more than 50 years ago,” Cosby’s lawyers maintain in their court papers. “Furthermore, plaintiff makes no claim that she only recently discovered within the past three years the injury that resulted from the 1969 assault.”
Valentino also does not allege that Cosby tried to hide evidence through the use of nondisclosure or confidentiality agreements, Cosby’s lawyers further state in their court papers.
Valentino says she met Cosby, now 86, in 1969 while auditioning for an acting role and showed him a photo of her late 6-year-old son, who had drowned. The two met again along with a friend of the plaintiff later that year at Sneaky Pete’s, a Sunset Strip steakhouse, where Cosby put a pill next to the still emotionally distraught Valentino’s glass, saying, “It will make us all feel better,” the suit states.
Valentino ingested the pill as well as a second Cosby put in her mouth and he also provided one to her friend, the court papers state. He took the two women by car to an office, where both became unconscious, the plaintiff’s court papers state.
When the drowsy plaintiff partially awoke and believed Cosby was about to sexually assault her friend, she tried to distract him and was assaulted by the comedian herself, the court papers allege.
The two women later ran out of the office and went to Valentino’s home via a cab, the court papers state.
Cosby admitted in a 2005 deposition that he used quaaludes on young women with whom he desired sex, the suit alleges.
“Bill Cosby exploited me when I was at my lowest point and was consumed by grief,” Valentino said in a previous statement. “Not only did he assault me, but the trauma caused my career in the performing arts to completely derail. The trauma he inflicted upon me affects not only me, but my children and grandchildren.”
Valentino further said that breaking her silence serves as her legacy to her family and shows those survivors who have yet to find their voices that hope and healing are possible.
A hearing on the Cosby dismissal motion is scheduled Feb. 9 before Judge Edward B. Moreton, Jr.