Posted on 12/14/2015 1:38:48 PM PST by iowamark
I am not a lawyer, but what I understand is that if someone sues you, and you counter-sue, then they cannot just drop their suit and walk away. They need your permission to drop everything.
It is a way to make the accusers spend a lot of money over a long period of time and seek a settlement.
I think the women who haven’t sued him for money should get together and sue him for an apology and an admission of guilt and nothing more. Then they couldn’t be viewed as money hungry.
Obviously, I don’t know whether he’s guilty or not, but the preponderance of evidence seems pretty damning against him.
And with him filing suit against 7 of the women opens the door for discovery and depositions from all under oath. This is going to get really interesting.
I think he is guilty as hell, but let's assume that he is innocent. Once one woman made allegations and got national news, a bunch of others jumped on the bandwagon. Most of them are represented by Gloria Allred, a well known publicity whore.
Even if the allegations are true, the statute of limitations has long since passed for any civil lawsuit. But every time he denies any of the allegations against him, Gloria Allred files a lawsuit against him for defamation.
So his only options are (1) never respond to any of the allegations against him, which makes everyone assume that they are true, (2) deny the allegations and defend countless defamation lawsuits all around the country, or (3) sue all of his accusers for defamation and fight them all in one lawsuit.
From a purely legal standpoint, I am amazed it took him this long to file the lawsuit.
I have some swampland in Florida I would like to sell you.
It will get interesting.
I’m not convinced they should withdraw damages, or whatever the monetary component would be referred to.
He should have to compensate in some manner for what he as done.
I’m not for supporting someone looking for a meal ticket at someone else’s expense, but it seems to me we wouldn’t ask the courts to forgo any penalties against defendants so they can get an honest accounting.
Of course turning state’s evidence is essentially just that, so I recognize that.
Wow
Nutjob bait thread
I’m a very profound alpha male and I’m with you
No question in my mind he’s done at least some of this
Some of the comments here indicate issues some have
Its always amazing the heartfelt eager opinions from so many here who demonstrate at the same time they have no grasp of the long history of this
Your son’s a smart fellow. Billy Graham has much the same policy, up to not being alone in the elevator with someone.
Sad that the world, or at least this country has come to this.
My guess is for the ones he is suing - he has proof that the “liaison” was consensual...
Good luck with that.
It doesn’t necessarily mean that. He wants people to think it does though.
“A dangerous precedent has been set.” -— Nothing new here. People have been suing for a long time for long ago things which may or may not have happened & not easily proven.
The accusations have clearly damaged his reputation and earning power. The only question is whether or not they are true.
I don’t think you can sue for an apology and admission of guilt. That might not constitute “damages.” To have “standing” in a lawsuit (that is, enough legal skin in the game to allow the lawsuit to proceed) there is often a requirement for damages in the monetary sense.
[IANAL]
“Have to wonder what took them so long to accuse Bill. I am reserving opinion until all the facts are in.”
For some, it was immediate and not “so long,” but the result was almost always the same; disbelief, refusal to prosecute the accusation, and retaliation for making the accusation. Cosby has allegedly intimidated the victims and their families to discourage accusations and prosecutions, according to the news reports and victim statements.
I once was in charge of an interior design division and had 10 women reporting to me.
My office door always stayed open.
Even when my direct reports got up to try to close it.
This was on the early 1990s, when the sexual harassment thing was in full bloom in the corporate world.
That was the Billy Graham rule, and I used it. It served me very well.
Gloria Allred might receive positive publicity from her work on this case, presuming she can make the allegations stick to the point that Cosby is on the legal ropes and comes seeking a settlement with the women accusers.
It is a tangled web indeed...
Maybe he held off filing a lawsuit this long for some kind of time sensitive legal strategy reason. The women’s case, filed first, will presumably be scheduled for trial first. If the women’s case is dismissed or decided that defendant scumbag, er uh, defendant Cosby is not liable, then there is nothing any more to stop Cosby from making the women’s lives miserable by forging ahead with his lawsuit. Filing a counter-lawsuit by Cosby at this time provides both an incentive to drop or settle out of court and a threat. Also maybe he is presuming that Allred has done him the favor of identifying the most likely women to sue him, so it may be a calculated optimization. If he prevails in any sense, and more women dogpile him later, then he has a precedent. It also seems likely with all the publicity that the statute of limitations is ticking for just about any potential Cosby victim at this time, and anyone who waits beyond this time therefore loses standing.
IANAL
“My office door always stayed open...in the early 1990s.”
Understood. But the issue now is that these women are making claims decades later, and that the burden of proof is no longer on the accuser to prove something did happen; now, in 2015, the accused has to prove it didn’t happen. Decades later.
How do you prove that your door was never closed, not even once; that you were never, ever, alone with the accuser, not even once—years later?
My point is that the rule of law, of presumption of innocence, and due process are all being scrapped in favor of identity politics. Members of a designated victim class —in this case, women claiming to have been raped— can simply point a finger and, without a shred of evidence, can ruin the designated “oppressor” (rich man.)
If it can happen to Cosby, it can happen to anyone.
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