Judge Rules Janice Dickinson’s Defamation Lawsuit Against Bill Cosby Can Move Forward
Janice Dickinson had a victory in court on Tuesday, when a judge ruled her defamation lawsuit against Bill Cosby can proceed.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Debre Katz Weintraub said a jury can decide the credibility of Dickinson’s allegations, and whether a statement by Cosby’s former lawyer, Martin Singer, calling the 61-year-old model a liar in regard to her allegations that Cosby drugged and raped her in 1982, is defamatory.
In addition, the court found that Singer did act with malice in his November 2014 letter to multiple media outlets, in which he called Dickinson’s allegations to ET about Cosby sexually assaulting her “fabricated and an outright lie.”
WATCH: Janice Dickinson Suing Bill Cosby for Defamation
“Ms. Dickinson completely fabricated the Story of alleged rape,” the letter, in part, read, calling her accusations “false and outlandish claims.”
“ … Her new allegation of rape was made for the first time only now, when it appears that she [is] seeking publicity to bolster her fading career,” the letter continued.
There will be a status conference on May 17 about Dickinson’s defamation case, which Cosby’s legal team still has opportunity to challenge before it goes to trial.
“Today, following a hearing on Mr. Cosby’s motion in Dickinson v. Cosby, the Court granted Mr. Cosby’s motion in part and struck half the bases upon which plaintiff filed her lawsuit,” Cosby’s legal team told ET in a statement on Tuesday. “We believe the remainder of the lawsuit should be dismissed as well and will be considering Mr. Cosby’s options on appeal.”
“I will not go down,” Dickinson said in a press conference following the ruling. “I want Bill Cosby in court. I want him to stand under oath.”
Last month, judge Weintraub dismissed Singer from Dickinson’s defamation suit, but did not dismiss Cosby. Dickinson and her lawyer, Lisa Bloom, filed the defamation suit in May 2015, with the model telling ET at the time, “I’m suing Bill Cosby for justice and vindication.”
“I was drugged and raped – drugged and raped – by Bill Cosby,” Dickinson claimed to ET. “And the fact that he and his spokespeople have called me a liar – referring to remarks that I’ve made – it’s just not correct. I want to fight this. I’m not being paid anything monetarily to do this, it’s just the right thing to do.”
In the lawsuit, Dickinson and her lawyer accuse Cosby and his legal team of making a “false statement” and that the comments made “were written and published with the goal of making Ms. Dickinson an object of ridicule, contempt, hatred or disgrace, and to bring her public and personal humiliation.”
“What sparked this lawsuit is Bill Cosby through his representatives calling Janice Dickinson a liar, and Janice is refusing to be re-victimized,” Bloom further explained. “She alleges she was drugged and raped by Bill Cosby, and then re-victimized again when he called her a liar.”
Dickinson actually spoke to ET about Singer’s bold comeback statement in November 2014.
“It is not a lie,” Dickinson said. “It is my right as a woman. I have to speak up, and you have to be able to go in and just be brave, and do it for all the women that can’t come forward. The loss of innocence that I suffered, and that these women suffered, is why I’m sitting here today. And I don’t care about what Cosby or networks or anybody says, you will hear me.”
WATCH: EXCLUSIVE – Janice Dickinson on Bill Cosby Allegation: ‘It Is Not a Lie’
But Dickinson has another upcoming battle to fight when it comes to her health – on Monday, she revealed she’s been diagnosed with breast cancer. The former America’s Next Top Model judge said she learned of her prognosis two weeks ago after she underwent an urgent mammogram and biopsy.
“It’s hard for me to say this, but I have been diagnosed with breast cancer,” she told the Daily Mail. “When the doctor found the lump it hurt, it became quite painful when you touch it – that’s the point when I knew this is serious, when the doctor touched this little lump in my right breast, about the size of a pea – and I went, 'Bingo, I have cancer.’”
But she stressed that she’s going to fight through her diagnosis.
“I am not gonna let that define me, the fear,” she insisted. “I’m going to get through this. I’ll be just fine, kiddo.”
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