Kristina Ruehli, one of dozens of women to accuse Bill Cosby of sexual assault, is suing the disgraced comedic icon for defamation of character, the Associated Press reports.
In the suit Ruehli, a New Hampshire woman, argues that when she spoke up last year about being a victim of assault by Cosby, he dragged her name through the mud and damaged her reputation by accusing her of lying.
"In making the false and defamatory statements, Mr. Cosby held Mr. [sic] Ruehli up to public scorn and ridicule, injured her good name and reputation and caused her severe emotional distress," a sentence in Ruehli's complaint reads.
The lawsuit seeks "unspecified damages" and is just one civil suit in a growing pile of lawsuits leveled at Cosby by an array of accusers who have similar allegations about being drugged and then sexually assaulted by Cosby. The comedian has been sued by numerous women for defamation, including Tamara Green, Therese Serignese and Linda Traitz in one suit and Janice Dickinson.
Ruehli claims that Cosby raped her in 1965, an accusation that sheds light on just how long these allegations against Cosby have been lurking.
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Diana Ozemebhoya Eromosele is a staff writer at The Root and the founder and executive producer of Lectures to Beats, a Web series that features video interviews with scarily insightful people. Follow Lectures to Beats on Facebook and Twitter.
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