Actress accuses Bill Cosby of drugging and raping her in new civil suit – Colorado Springs Gazette

An actress who once appeared on The Cosby Show is accusing Bill Cosby of drugging and raping her in a new civil filing.

Lili Bernard, an actress featured in a single episode of The Cosby Show, is asking the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey to award her $100 million on four counts alleging Cosby assaulted her, battered her, inflicted emotional distress, and falsely imprisoned her in 1990 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, as well as an additional $125 million in punitive damages.

"Ms. Bernard sustained permanent injuries, including, but not limited to, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression, emotional distress, and physical sequelae thereof, nightmares, flashbacks, inability to sleep, severe physical pain and suffering, severe emotional pain and suffering, embarrassment, and multiple other permanent injuries," the filing said.

BILL COSBY RELEASED FROM PRISON AFTER SEXUAL ASSAULT CONVICTION VACATED BY PENNSYLVANIA SUPREME COURT

After offering to mentor Bernard in July 1990, Cosby brought the actress to Atlantic City the following month by telling her he would arrange a meeting with a producer who would advance her career, "knowingly and intentionally" doing so "for the purpose of drugging and then sexually abusing Ms. Bernard," the lawsuit said. The meeting continued past the meal and moved to a dining room of a hotel suite, where Cosby prepared a "supposedly non-alcoholic beverage" for Bernard, who began to "feel symptoms of dizziness, an urge to vomit, and weakness" after consumption, the filing continued.

"Daddy's going to get you something to feel better," Cosby told Bernard, who later vomited and lost consciousness, the filing continued.

Bernard then dipped in and out of consciousness, during which she awoke to find herself being undressed, raped, and unable to move, the lawsuit alleged.

Andrew Wyatt, Cosby's spokesman, said Cosby maintains his innocence and emphasized the statute of limitations had passed.

"This is just another attempt to abuse the legal process, by opening up the flood gates for people, who never presented an ounce of evidence, proof, truth and/or facts, in order to substantiate their alleged allegations," Wyatt said in a statement Thursday, according to multiple outlets. "Mr. Cosby continues to maintain steadfast in his innocence and will vigorously fight ANY alleged allegations waged against him and is willing and able to take this fight to the highest court in these United States of America."

After being accused of sexually assaulting Andrea Constad in 2004, Cosby reached an agreement with then-Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce Castor to waive his right to plead the Fifth Amendment and offer testimony in exchange for only civil proceedings. But when the depositions were unsealed in 2015, the new prosecutor used them to bring criminal claims against Cosby. An initial trial in 2015 was deadlocked, resulting in a second trial, where five other Cosby accusers were brought in to testify against him for unrelated incidents.

Cosby was handed a guilty verdict on criminal charges in 2018, and he had served two years of his three- to 10-year sentence when the Pennsylvania Supreme Court determined the proceedings violated Cosby's agreement with Castor. Cosby was then released from prison on June 30.

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At least one other Cosby Show star celebrated the court's ruling. Phylicia Rashad, who played Cosby's wife, celebrated the ruling on social media, saying, "FINALLY!!!! A terrible wrong is being righted- a miscarriage of justice is corrected!"

Bernard played Mrs. Minifield in one episode of the show and also guest-starred on Seinfeld and Golden Years.

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