The 77-year-old comedian's lawyers tell a judge that he was within his rights to make 'privileged utterances of self-defense' if he branded the accusers liars.
- Feb 28, 2015
AceShowbiz - Bill Cosby filed on Friday, February 27 a motion to dismiss defamation suit by his three accusers Tamara Green, Therese Serignese and Linda Traitz. Bill's lawyers Robert LoBue, Francis Dibble and Jeffrey Poindexter told a Massachusetts judge that their client was within his rights to make "privileged utterances of self-defense" if he branded the accusers liars.
According to Bill's memorandum in support of the motion, the accusers' suit did not have place in court. His lawyers claimed the defamation suit was a "misuse of the law of defamation to attempt an end run around the relevant statutes of limitations for the alleged assaults."
The memorandum stated, "The law does not require that one stand idly by while he is publicly attacked. Instead, the law entitles an individual who is accused of serious wrongdoing to rebut the allegations without facing defamation claims. Statements made in self-defense are privileged and cannot form the basis of a defamation action."
"Any other rule would discourage full and open public discourse and would present those who are attacked with a Hobson's Choice: Either remain silent and allow accusations to stand unanswered, or publicly deny them and invite the expense, burdens and vexations of a defamation suit," the memorandum continued.
The memorandum added that the result would be "inequitable," which may sound like inflammatory rhetoric when compared with the serious nature of rape, but Bill's lawyers contextualized the purpose of having a statute of limitations when "evidence and witnesses have disappeared and memory has faded."
Other reasons in the memorandum stated the defamation suit were failed because the accusers weren't directly called "liars," and Bill's statement was said to not be "of and concerning" them. There was supposed "substantial truth" to Bill's statements about Linda with nod to her criminal records.
Tamara, Therese and Linda will have until March 20 to file a reply to Bill's motion to dismiss the suit.
