newsmakers

newsmakers

Bill Cosby seeks to dismiss new lawsuit

LOS ANGELES

A woman suing Bill Cosby for sexual battery attempted to sell a story about the comedian to a tabloid a decade ago and tried to extort money in exchange for her silence, Cosby’s attorney said in a court filing Thursday.

Atty. Martin Singer wrote in the filing that the lawsuit by Judy Huth and her attorney followed a failed attempt to extort $250,000 from Cosby. In the filing, Cosby seeks more than $33,000 from Huth and her attorney.

The filing comes two days after Huth sued, claiming the comedian forced her to perform a sex act in 1974 when she was 15. The incident occurred in a bedroom of the Playboy Mansion after Cosby gave Huth and a 16-year-old friend alcohol, according to her lawsuit.

“[Huth’s] claims are absolutely false,” Cosby’s filing states.

The filings state that Singer and Huth’s attorney, Marc S. Strecker, had several conversations about the allegations in the weeks before the lawsuit was filed. Strecker first demanded $100,000, then raised the demand to $250,000 to keep from filing a lawsuit on Huth’s behalf, Singer wrote.

Strecker did not return phone messages seeking a comment Thursday.

“Your demand for money from Mr. Cosby is rejected,” Singer wrote in a Dec. 1 letter to Strecker.

Her lawsuit stated she only recently discovered that she had suffered psychological damage as a result of the incident, which under California law would allow filing of the case.

Cosby’s response, however, notes that Huth unsuccessfully tried to sell her story a decade ago and that her lawsuit was not accompanied by a certification from a psychologist that the trauma was newly discovered. The certification is required for the case to proceed under rules that extend the statute of limitations, Cosby’s filing states.

In recent weeks, more than a dozen women have alleged that Cosby drugged them and sexually assaulted them. Cosby was sued by a Pennsylvania woman, Andrea Constand, in 2005, and that lawsuit was settled before it went to trial. Cosby never has been charged in connection with either Constand’s suit or any of the recent allegation,s and Singer has denied some of the recent allegations, while another Cosby attorney called others “discredited.”

On Thursday, the U.S. Navy revoked Cosby’s title of honorary chief petty officer, saying allegations of sexual abuse made against the comedian are serious and conflict with the Navy’s core values.

Mark Wahlberg seeks pardon for ’88 assaults

BOSTON

Actor Mark Wahlberg is asking Massachusetts for a pardon for assaults he committed in 1988 when he was a troubled teenager in Boston.

Wahlberg’s application with the Massachusetts Parole Board says he isn’t the same person he was 26 years ago, and his past convictions still are affecting his life. New England Cable News first reported on the application Thursday.

The document says Wahlberg hit a man with a wooden stick while trying to steal two cases of alcohol outside a Dorchester convenience store and punched another man while trying to escape. He was convicted and sentenced to three months in jail.

Wahlberg says a pardon would be an inspiration to troubled kids that they can turn their lives around.

The 43-year-old is now a successful actor and producer.

Associated Press