Bill Cosby's insurance company has settled another lawsuit filed by a female accuser a week before the imprisoned comedian was set to give a deposition in the case, prompting Cosby to call the insurer "complicit" in a scheme to destroy him.
Former model Chloe Goins had accused Cosby of drugging and molesting her at a party at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles in 2008, when she was about 18.
Cosby in a statement Tuesday accused American International Group Inc. of "egregious behavior" in settling what he called a "frivolous" suit, and said he could prove he was in New York at the time. Goins' lawsuit was filed in state court in Los Angeles.
Goins' lawyers, Craig Goldenfarb and Spencer Kuvin, said their client was pleased with the confidential settlement. An AIG spokesman said the insurer had no comment.
"Mr. Cosby's legal team provided medical records, which showed that Mr. Cosby had undergone eye surgery and was in New York, recuperating at his home, at the time of the alleged events," he said in the statement, issued by spokesman Andrew Wyatt.
Cosby, 81 is serving a three- to 10-year prison term after a Pennsylvania jury last year found he drugged and molested a woman who worked at his alma mater, Temple University, in 2004. Earlier this month, AIG settled defamation lawsuits filed by seven other Cosby accusers in Massachusetts, after losing a legal battle over their duty to defend Cosby in those cases.
Cosby had at least $37 million in insurance coverage through AIG, including two $1 million homeowner's policies and a $35 million umbrella policy protecting him from personal injury or property damage claims. AIG argued that the policies did not cover sexual misconduct claims.
However, a federal appeals court, in a 2018 decision written by former Supreme Court Justice David Souter, who was filling in on the court, said the defamation claims were distinct from the sexual misconduct claims underlying them, and must be covered.
The Massachusetts plaintiffs said Cosby and his agents had labeled them liars in public comments denying their accusations. AIG declined to comment Tuesday on its decision to settle the lawsuits or on Cosby's ire. Cosby, in the statement, called AIG "complicit in this scheme to destroy me and my family."
"I can only imagine how terribly they're treating their policyholders, who don't have my means and my resource," Cosby said in the statement.
The settlements largely bring a close to what was once a dizzying spate of litigation involving sexual misconduct and defamation accusations lodged against Cosby around the country. There are now two claims remaining in California filed by accusers Judith Huth and Janice Dickinson, Wyatt said.
Cosby is appealing his conviction in the Pennsylvania criminal case, insisting the encounter with Andrea Constand was consensual. He had settled a civil lawsuit she filed in 2006, and was arrested nearly a decade later, after a deposition he gave in the case was unsealed, prompting prosecutors to reopen the criminal case.
Los Angeles police investigated Goins' claims, but said she had come forward months after the six-year statute of limitations ran out. She initially filed the lawsuit against both Cosby and Playboy Mansion owner Hugh Hefner, but Hefner was dismissed from the case before he died in 2017.
The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they are sexual assault victims unless they give their permission, which the Cosby accusers have done.
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — At least 90 people were injured in Argentina's capital when a passenger train struck an empty boxcar on the tracks and derailed Friday, authorities said, a rare collision that fueled questions about basic safety.
The train was on its way from Buenos Aires to the northern suburbs when it derailed around 10:30 a.m. on a bridge in the trendy neighborhood of Palermo, safety officials said.
While it was not immediately clear why the idled boxcar had been on the bridge, Argentina's railway union said several meters (yards) of copper cable used to carry power along the tracks had been stolen from the railway, disabling the signaling system intended to prevent such accidents.
Union leaders fiercely opposed to libertarian President Javier Milei's economic austerity blamed the government for its failure to invest in public infrastructure.
“We have been demanding for 10 days that the stolen signaling cables be repaired," rail union leader Omar Maturano told the country's independent Radio Con Vos station. “The government said there was no money for spare parts.”
Prosecutors said they were investigating.
“There is not enough information about the mechanics of this accident,” Buenos Aires Mayor Jorge Macri said from the crash site where he praised the swift evacuation of victims.
Dozens of injured were treated at the scene and 30 people taken to hospitals in moderate to serious condition, at least two by helicopter with chest trauma and broken bones.
Alberto Crescenti, director of the city's emergency service, said rescuers with police dogs had helped 90 people trapped in the derailed train, lowering some by rope from the highway overpass scattered with twisted metal and shattered glass.
Dazed passengers staggering out of the derailed boxcars told local media the train had stopped on the bridge for several minutes before starting up again and slamming violently into the other train, jolting passengers and veering off the rails in a jumble of sparks and smoke.
Officials at the Argentine rail authority, Trenes Argentinos, said service on the popular rail line had been suspended, complicating travel for many commuters.
The collision brought increased scrutiny to rail safety in Argentina, where a string of train crashes from 2012-2014 left over 50 people dead and hundreds injured. It emerged at the time that outdated infrastructure, delays and human error had left the railway system vulnerable to crashes, prompting the government to invest in new safety and braking systems.
With Argentina's economy spiraling and anti-government protests gripping the streets, the crash quickly spawned contradictory narratives, with both government officials and leftist union leaders using the incident to further their agendas.
“The rail company has been totally degraded because there's no budget," said Maturano, from the rail union.
President Milei reposted comments on social media blaming his left-leaning predecessors for neglecting public infrastructure and running up a massive budget deficit.
In the midst of Argentina's worst economic crisis in two decades, police have repeatedly reported would-be cable thieves being electrocuted in the act. Those who succeed wreak havoc on the rail system in stealing metal to sell to scrapyards, where local media says the going rate is about $7 a kilogram ($3.18 a pound).
The Argentine website Infobae in February called copper cable theft “a trendy crime for the crisis.”
Police tape off the site after a passenger train collision in the Palermo area of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Friday, May 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
A paramedic transports an injured commuter after two trains collided in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Friday, May 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
Railway workers inspect a passenger train after it collided with another in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Friday, May 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Franco Dergarabedian)
Railway workers inspect a passenger train after it collided with another in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Friday, May 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
A police officer talks to a commuter who was injured when two trains collided in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Friday, May 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
A train wagon that collided with another stands on the rails in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Friday, May 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
Paramedics transport injured commuters after two trains collided in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Friday, May 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
