A woman who said Bill Cosby sexually assaulted her when she was a young comedy writer more than 50 years ago filed a lawsuit against the actor Thursday under a soon-to-expire New York law that gave victims of sexual abuse a one-year window for claims that would otherwise be barred by time limits.
Joan Tarshis initially came forward with allegations against Cosby in 2014 that are repeated in the new lawsuit. Tarshis said Cosby drugged her and forced her to perform oral sex on him in 1969 or 1970, and then drugged and raped her during another encounter a year or two later.
The New York resident was living in California at the time of the first assault and had met Cosby through a mutual friend while he was starring in “The Bill Cosby Show,” according to the lawsuit, filed in state Supreme Court in New York City.
He was promised immunity in exchange for a deposition in a civil suit against him. He was guilty, but he had immunity in that case at least.