Bill Cosby's Lawyers Request Judge to Drop Janice Dickinson's Lawsuit Against Him

Bill Cosby's lawyers asked a judge to toss out an amended defamation lawsuit filed against the entertainer by ex-model Janice Dickinson, alleging her attorneys revised the original case before a ruling could be made on a motion to dismiss it.

Cosby's lawyers filed the motion Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court.

Dickinson is one of dozens of women who have accused Cosby of sexual assault. In her amended complaint filed Nov. 16, Dickinson's lawyers added Cosby's former lawyer, Martin Singer, as a defendant and identified two additional statements in which Singer is alleged to have defamed the plaintiff.

Cosby's lawyers maintain that the revised lawsuit was filed to "escape an adverse ruling" on the defense's pending motion to dismiss the original case, which was filed May 20.

"Plaintiff apparently seeks to ensure that a portion of her claims will remain even if the trial court grants the (dismissal) motion," Cosby's lawyers state in their court papers.

The amended complaint is "an 11th-hour attempt to plead around" the pending dismissal motion set to be heard Jan. 21, Cosby's lawyers state in their court papers.

Cosby fired Singer in October.

Dickinson, 60, sued the 78-year-old Cosby in May, claiming she has been re-victimized and her reputation has suffered because of denials by Singer that the comedian drugged and raped her in a Lake Tahoe hotel room more than 30 years ago.

The suit detailed Dickinson's allegations that Cosby raped her after giving her wine and a pill in the hotel room, and how she wanted to go public with her story in a 2002 autobiography but was prevented from doing so by the book's publisher.

Like the first complaint, Dickinson's amended suit alleges defamation, false light invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The suit states that Singer prepared four news releases denying that Cosby drugged and raped Dickinson and that all were released within three days after she made her allegations against Cosby during a Nov. 18, 2014, television interview.

The Singer statements, among other things, called Dickinson's allegations in the interview "fabricated" and "an outrageous defamatory lie," the suit states.

Singer "acted with reckless disregard" and ignored the fact there were "obvious reasons to doubt the accuracy of his statements," the suit alleges.

Cosby and Singer refused demands from Dickinson's lawyers to retract the statements, according to the suit.

Cosby's lawyers maintain Singer's statements are protected speech because they were made in a "public forum" and involve "an issue of public interest."

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