Florida Lawyer Will Push Calif. Case Against Bill Cosby After 'Guilty' Verdict
His client claimed Cosby drugged then assaulted her in 2008 at a party at Hugh Hefner's Playboy Mansion.
April 26, 2018 at 06:10 PM
4 minute read
Bill Cosby departs after his sexual assault trial on April 26, 2018, at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pennsylvania. (Photo: Matt Slocum/AP)
A West Palm Beach attorney representing a woman suing comedian Bill Cosby said his client will press on with her litigation after a Pennsylvania jury found the iconic entertainer guilty Thursday of three counts of aggravated indecent assault.
Spencer Kuvin of the Law Offices of Craig Goldenfarb is part of a team of attorneys representing Chloe Goins, a former aspiring model who claimed Cosby drugged and assaulted her in 2008 at a party at Hugh Hefner's Playboy Mansion.
“We're obviously very excited,” Kuvin said after the verdict. “My client has been waiting for this day for a very long time.”
Kuvin teamed up with California-based attorney Kevin Kensik in 2016 to sue Cosby and Hefner in Los Angeles Superior Court.
Their five-count complaint alleged sexual battery, gender violence and intentional infliction of emotional distress against Cosby, and negligent infliction of emotional distress and conspiracy to commit sexual battery against Cosby and Hefner.
Hefner, who died in September 2017, is no longer a defendant in the suit.
The California court stayed the proceedings as Pennsylvania prosecutors tried Cosby on allegations he drugged and sexually assaulted former Temple University employee Andrea Constand in 2004.
But now, Kuvin said his client plans to file a motion by early next week asking the court to lift that stay.
“We'll be doing that immediately,” he said. “We believe that obviously this verdict vindicates what everyone has been saying all along. We seek to hold [Cosby] accountable. … More than anything, my client is happy that justice has been served, and that he'll be facing time behind bars.”
Cosby's attorneys did not immediately respond to a request for comment by press time.
Kuvin's next move is to seek depositions of Cosby and his staff in an attempt to place Cosby at the Playboy Mansion when the alleged attack occurred.
The South Florida attorney said his team is at work on a joint prosecution strategy with famed plaintiffs lawyer Gloria Allred, who represents several women accusing Cosby of sexual misconduct. Allred's clients have pending defamation suits, largely because the statute of limitations expired on their sexual assault claims. But Kuvin says his client is still within the window to bring her civil suit.
“We believe that at the very least, this verdict is going to pave the way in the civil cases, both ours and [those of] the victims that Gloria Allred represents,” Kuvin said. “We've been coordinating with Ms. Allred … and we hope that all of the cases will now move forward expeditiously.”
Goins, 26, said she has forgotten the date of the party. It's a key point because she would have been a minor if the alleged event took place before May 17, 2008. She claimed she attended the party with a friend who'd been invited, and later met Cosby through an introduction by Hefner.
“Cosby asked Goins and her friend if they wanted a drink. Goins and her friend agreed to accept drinks, and Cosby went to get them the drinks,” the complaint states. “Cosby returned to the girls with drinks and gave the girls the drinks. Goins drank a portion of the drink and began to feel ill. Goins was told by other partygoers that she did not look well. Both Hefner and Cosby saw that Goins was woozy, and Hefner suggested Goins go and lie down in a bedroom at the residence.”
Goins claimed she blacked out, and woke up to find herself naked and alone with Cosby.
“Mr. Cosby had woken her up because he was biting one of her toes,” Kuvin told the Daily Business Review at the time of the filing.
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