Bill Cosby has settled a civil suit brought by a Canadian woman who claimed the funnyguy drugged and sexually assaulted her nearly three years ago.
The accuser's attorney, Dolores Troiani, announced in a statement that her client and Cosby have "resolved their differences; therefore, the litigation has been dismissed pursuant to local court rule."
The plaintiff, a former Temple University employee in her early 30s and a onetime acquaintance of the comic, stated in court papers that she accompanied Cosby back to his suburban Philadelphia home following a group dinner in January 2004. There, she alleged, he gave her pills that made her feel dizzy and subsequently fondled her breasts. She did not report the alleged incident to authorities until a year later.
After investigating the matter, local prosecutors declined to press charges in the case, citing insufficient evidence. Cosby denied any wrongdoing, saying he only gave the woman Benadryl after she complained of stress and sleeping problems and apologized if his actions were "misinterpreted."
The alleged victim, a native of Ontario, Canada, sued America's favorite TV Dad in civil court in March 2005, accusing him not only of sexual assault, but of defaming her in an interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer. The suit's other allegations included battery, infliction of emotional distress and invasion of privacy.
After the case became widely publicized, 12 other women stepped forward to claim that they, too, had been molested by Cosby and offered to testify on the original accuser's behalf against the entertainer.
While U.S. District Judge Eduardo Robreno refused Cosby's request for a gag order over the case, he also denied a petition by Troiani to shield the identities of nine of the women for privacy reasons, saying they failed to show "good cause." By then, three other women had already gone public with their accounts of groping by the comedian.
With regard to the settlement, Cosby's rep, David Brokaw, could not be reached for comment, though he confirmed the deal to the Associated Press. No terms of the settlement, including whether any money had been paid to the victim, were released.
Cosby, meanwhile has been on the road continuing to offer pointed lectures aimed at the black community that have sparked controversy in some quarters.
Last month, the television personality turned up at a forum in Los Angeles called "Education Is a Civil Right," attended by hundreds of teachers, parents and students. There, he took his fellow African-Americans to task for failing to live up to the promises of the Civil Rights Movement by not providing parental guidance to black youths, pointing to alarming high school dropout rates, increases in teen pregnancy and gun violence.