Attorney alleges extortion attempt

Cosby’s attorney, Martin Singer, alleges that Judy Huth and her attorney tried to extort money from Cosby before filing suit against the comedian this week. Singer files a notice of demurrer with Los Angeles Superior Court.

Plaintiff Judy Huth filed a meritless and unsupported 40-year-old claim against Bill Cosby alleging decades-old sexual abuse immediately after Mr. Cosby rejected plaintiff’s outrageous demand for money in order not to make her allegations public. Recognizing that they committed extortion and could face significant consequences for their conduct, plaintiff’s counsel Marc Strecker rushed to the courthouse to file this lawsuit on behalf of his client. Under California law, the only way that an alleged victim of childhood sexual abuse would be able to assert an otherwise time-barred claim is to allege that the psychological injury or illness had been repressed and was only discovered within the last three years. Without providing any specific allegations, or the mandated certification from a mental health professional to support her claim, plaintiff alleges that she discovered her psychological injuries and illness ‘within the three years prior to the filing of the complaint.’ Conspicuously absent from her complaint, however, is the fact, confirmed by plaintiff’s counsel, that plaintiff unsuccessfully tried to sell her story to the tabloids nearly a decade ago. Through her lawyer, plaintiff made extortionate threats to Mr. Cosby (through his counsel) about criminal penalties, coupled with ever increasing demands for a six-figure payday to keep quiet about her long since expired claims.