A woman suing Bill Cosby for sexual battery attempted to sell a story about the comedian to a tabloid a decade ago and tried to extort money in exchange for her silence, Cosby's attorney said in a court filing today. Attorney Martin Singer wrote in the filing that the lawsuit by Judy Huth and her attorney followed a failed attempt to extort $250,000 from Cosby. In the filing, Cosby seeks more than $33,000 from Huth and her attorney. The filing comes two days after Huth sued, claiming the comedian forced her to perform a sex act in 1974 when she was 15. The incident occurred in a bedroom of the Playboy Mansion after Cosby gave Huth and a 16-year-old friend alcohol, according to her lawsuit.
"(Huth's) claims are absolutely false," Cosby's filing states. It also says that Singer and Huth's attorney, Marc S. Strecker, had several conversations about the allegations in the weeks before the lawsuit was filed. Strecker first demanded $100,000, then raised the demand to $250,000 in order to keep from filing a lawsuit on Huth's behalf, Singer wrote. Strecker did not return phone messages seeking comment. Huth's lawsuit stated she only recently discovered that she had suffered psychological damage as a result of the incident, which under California law would allow filing of the case. Cosby's response, however, notes that Huth unsuccessfully tried to sell her story a decade ago and that her lawsuit was not accompanied by a certification from a psychologist that the trauma was newly discovered. (More Bill Cosby stories.)
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