NEWSMAKERS
NEWSMAKERS
Ex-prosecutor who didn’t charge Cosby sued for defamation
PHILADELPHIA
A woman who settled a sex-abuse lawsuit against Bill Cosby has sued the former prosecutor who declined to file charges, saying he has defamed her through recent attacks on her credibility.
Andrea Constand’s defamation lawsuit cites a series of comments that Bruce Castor made to the media as he runs for another term as district attorney in Montgomery County, near Philadelphia.
The suit, filed Monday, accuses Castor of rendering her “collateral damage for his political ambitions.”
Castor has said Constand gave a different story to police in January 2005 than the felony assault she described in her lawsuit that same year.
“If the allegations in the civil complaint were contained with that detail in her statement to the police, we might have been able to make a case out of it,” he told The Associated Press last month, defending his decision not to prosecute.
Constand’s lawyer, Dolores Troiani, demanded a public apology. With none forthcoming, she filed the defamation and invasion- of-privacy lawsuit.
“He said that she enhanced her statement for monetary gain [in the civil case],” Troiani told the AP. “This is outrageous that a victim of a crime could be treated this same way – twice – by the same man.”
Castor did not immediately return a call seeking comment. The Legal Intelligencer first reported on the lawsuit, which seeks at least $150,000 in damages.
The filing comes eight days before the election. Both Castor, a Republican, and his opponent Kevin Steele, a Democrat, have tried to spin the Cosby case to their advantage in campaign ads.
Leah Remini talks to ‘20/20’ about Tom Cruise, Scientology
LOS ANGELES
Leah Remini is talking about Scientology and Tom Cruise in a new interview with ABC’s “20/20.”
The actress says in a clip released Monday that “being critical of Tom Cruise is being critical of Scientology itself.” The interview is scheduled to air Friday at 10 p.m.
Remini was raised as a Scientologist but left the church two years ago. Her memoir, “Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology,” is set for release next month.
Representatives for Cruise and the Church of Scientology did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Associated Press