California Appeals Court Upholds Trial Court Order Against Cosby after Case Settles

The California Court of Appeals for the Second Appellate District upheld an order of the trial court in Dickinson v. Cosby, a defamation case in which Janice Dickinson sued Bill Cosby for defamation in certain press releases in which his lawyer, who issued the release, had said that she had lied when she had stated that Cosby had raped her. The trial court had dismissed certain claims in Dickinson's complaint, but had allowed her claims relating to the press releases to go forward, holding that it believed that Dickinson could prove that Cosby had authorized the release of the press releases.

Cosby and Dickinson had settled their case, but had not notified the court in time to prevent the opinion from being issued.

Sanford Hausler is an appellate attorney with Pollack, Pollack, Isaac & DeCicco, LLP in New York, New York.

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