Bill Cosby’s former attorney filed court papers to disqualify the judge that ordered him and the comedian to undergo depositions in a lawsuit by ex-model Janice Dickinson, one of dozens of women who have accused Bill Cosby of sexual assault.
Martin Singer filed documents on Monday to remove Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Debre K. Weintraub from hearing the case further. If the petition is granted, it will be up to the presiding civil court judge to reassign the case to another jurist.
The two-page document does not state why Singer is removing Weintraub. Singer was named in an amended complaint that Dickinson’s lawyers filed Nov. 16. Each side is entitled to one challenge of a judge without having to state a reason.
Cosby fired Singer in October. He and the lawyer are now co-defendants in Dickinson’s case.
Dickinson sued 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.
