Embattled comedian Bill Cosby currently faces a criminal case brought against him by former Temple University employee Andrea Constand. In May, a judge ordered him to stand trial in this case, over a 2004 incident in which Constand accused him of sexual assault.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Cosby had filed a civil suit against Constand and others for breaching a confidentiality clause in a 2006 civil settlement over this case. On Monday, a federal judge in Pennsylvania said that parts of Cosby’s lawsuit could go forward, involving Constand’s lawyers leaking the notorious deposition where he admitted to giving girls quaaludes in order to have sex with them, as well as two tweets that Constand wrote about Cosby, and an interview concerning him that she gave to the Toronto Sun. She had originally argued that the tweets did not breech any settlement terms because she never mentioned Cosby by name in them. This is how the judge specifically responded to that:
“This argument is unavailing because, of course, a statement can be a reference to an individual or situation even if it does not explicitly say so,” writes the judge. “Whether the tweets were in fact references to Cosby — and, if so, whether Constand breached the CSA by tweeting them — are questions to be answered at a later stage.”
But the judge did say that Cosby can’t sue Constand on the claim that talking to law enforcement breached their settlement, since such a claim “violates public policy by purporting to prevent individuals from providing information concerning alleged criminal conduct,” making this civil victory a mixed one. Couple that with this Page Six report that Cosby has gone blind and is confined to his house. If this in fact true, it seems like the comedian is “in his own personal hell,” as an anonymous source describes it.
(Via Hollywood Reporter / Page Six)