Bill Cosby faced a huge loss in court this week after a federal judge in Las Vegas allowed a group of women to move forward with their lawsuit against him.
Recently, the state of Nevada repealed the statute of limitations for civil claims by survivors of sexual violence.
The 10 women’s lawsuits accuse the comedian of sexual assault, battery, assault, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent infliction of emotional distress, and false imprisonment.
The allegations are similar to previous claims made against Cosby – that he drugged and r-ped them in the 1970s through the 1990s.
Cosby argued that the law, Senate Bill 129, violates Nevada’s prohibition on laws that only apply to a select group of people and while the judge agreed that victims of “other heinous crimes” and “interpersonal violence” may suffer from similar trauma as sexual assault survivors, she countered that the perpetrators of such other crimes stand in exactly the same respect to the victims of sexual assault.
“Indeed, the Nevada Legislature sought to address the ‘uniquely intimate’ crime of sexual assault, when they created SB 129,” the judge wrote wrote. “Although victims of other crimes classified by defendant may suffer similar trauma and be reluctant to report, defendant has not shown how these other crimes are of the ‘uniquely intimate’ nature such that their victims stand on precisely the same ground as sexual assault victims.”
The judge clarified that SB 129 was not a punishment for perpetrators but was created to compensate victims and offer them a way to heal.
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