Woman seeks revival of her defamation suit against Bill Cosby
BOSTON — A woman who says Bill Cosby raped her in a Michigan hotel room more than four decades ago should be allowed to sue for defamation, because the comedian “knows she is not lying about the rape,” her attorney said Wednesday.
F. William Salo told a three-judge panel of the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that Cosby destroyed Katherine McKee’s reputation when his lawyer wrote a letter demanding a retraction of a 2014 New York Daily News story about her rape allegations.
McKee was among dozens of women who came forward with allegations against the actor once known as “America’s Dad” for his TV role as Dr. Cliff Huxtable. McKee claims Cosby raped her in a Detroit hotel room in 1974. Cosby has denied all allegations of wrongdoing.
In the letter at issue in McKee’s case, Cosby’s lawyer accused the New York Daily News of ignoring things that would have shown her story wasn’t credible, including positive statements the lawyer claims McKee made about Cosby after the encounter.
Cosby’s lawyer told the judges a federal court in Massachusetts was right to dismiss McKee’s lawsuit on the grounds the letter was protected by the First Amendment. McKee would have to prove Cosby acted with actual malice because she became a kind of public figure when she gave the interview, Alan Greenberg said.
The judges are expected to rule in the coming weeks.