Trigger warning: This article contains mentions of sexual assault, drug abuse, and rape.
It seems it’s another day, another lawsuit for disgraced comedian and actor Bill Cosby, these days.
According to the New York Post, Cosby is at the center of a brand new lawsuit filed in Manhattan Supreme Court on Monday. The suit stems from allegations of sexual abuse at the hands of the comedian from five women, namely Lili Bernard, Eden Tirl, Jewel Gittens, Jennifer Thompson and Cindra Ladd. The women are also suing NBC Universal Media, Kaufman Astoria Studios and the Carsey-Werner Company, all entities that they allege “condoned and encouraged the abuse by their alleged inaction.”
While most of the women allege the abuse took place in the late 80s-early 90s, and would presumably be past the statute of limitations, the survivors were able to bring forth the suit thanks to New York’s recently enacted Adult Survivors Act, which suspends the statute of limitations for one year, allowing adult victims of sexual assault to bring their abusers to court.
For Bernard, who played the role of Ms. Minifield on The Cosby Show, she alleges that the titular actor drugged and raped her on two occasions in 1990 and forced her to perform oral sex during a separate incident.
Tirl alleges she was sexually assaulted by Cosby after being forced into his dressing room in 1989. As for Gittens, she alleges that Cosby drug and assaulted her in his home sometime in the late 1980s.
Thompson alleges that when she was 18 years old, Cosby forced her to masturbate him in his home in Manhattan. Lastly, Ladd alleges that she and the comedian were “platonic friends” but that he still drugged and raped her after a night out at the movies.
In a statement addressing the suit, the plaintiff’s lawyer Jordan Merson said: “With the passage of the [Adult Survivors Act], these five women can now come forward and pursue justice for what was done of them.”
Representatives for Cosby, NBC Universal, Kaufman, nor Carsey have yet to comment on the new suit.