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Renita Hill V. William Cosby, Jr

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Renita Hill V. William Cosby, Jr Opinions of the United 2016 Decisions States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit 12-14-2016 Renita Hill v. William Cosby, Jr. Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.law.villanova.edu/thirdcircuit_2016 Recommended Citation "Renita Hill v. William Cosby, Jr." (2016). 2016 Decisions. 1087. https://digitalcommons.law.villanova.edu/thirdcircuit_2016/1087 This December is brought to you for free and open access by the Opinions of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit at Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in 2016 Decisions by an authorized administrator of Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law Digital Repository. NOT PRECEDENTIAL UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT ______________ No. 16-1362 ______________ RENITA HILL, an individual, Appellant v. WILLIAM HENRY COSBY, JR., an individual, also known as BILL COSBY ______________ On Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania (D.C. Civ. No. 2-15-cv-01658) Honorable Arthur J. Schwab, U.S. District Judge ______________ Argued October 7, 2016 BEFORE: SHWARTZ, COWEN, and ROTH, Circuit Judges (Filed: December 14, 2016) ______________ OPINION ______________ George M. Kontos, Esq. (Argued) Claire McGee, Esq. Kontos Mengine Law Group 603 Stanwix Street *This disposition is not an opinion of the full court and pursuant to I.O.P. 5.7 does not constitute binding precedent. Two Gateway Center, Suite 1228 Pittsburgh, PA 15222 Counsel for Appellant Angela C. Agrusa, Esq. (Argued) Liner 1100 Glendon Avenue 14th Floor Los Angeles, CA 90024 Brian C. Bevan, Esq. Efrem M. Grail, Esq. The Grail Law Firm 436 Seventh Avenue Koppers Building, 30th Floor Pittsburgh, PA 15219 Marshall M. Searey, III, Esq. Christopher Tayback, Esq. Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan 865 South Figueroa Street 10th Floor Los Angeles, CA 90017 Emily M. Smith, Esq. Quinn Emanual Urquhart & Sullivan 711 Louisanna Street Suite 500 Houston, TX 77002 Counsel for Appellee COWEN, Circuit Judge Plaintiff Renita Hill appeals from the order of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania granting Defendant William H. Cosby, Jr.’s motion 2 to dismiss her complaint pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. We will affirm. I. According to Hill’s complaint, Cosby—“an internationally known comedian, actor and author” (A45)1—drugged and sexually assaulted her. Specifically, the alleged abuse began in (approximately) 1983, when she was a sixteen-year-old high school student recruited by Cosby to co-host a children’s television program. Cosby presented himself as Hill’s mentor and paid for her college tuition. The alleged abuse ended around 1987, after she had completed her second year in college (at which time Hill cut off any contact with Cosby, and he stopped paying her tuition). Hill claimed that Cosby would meet her in his hotel room and give her a drink containing drugs that affected her consciousness, memory, and perception (and when she indicated that she did not want to drink, Cosby would threaten to terminate “his purported tutelage” (A49)). “While she was in this semi-conscious or unconscious state, Renita was sexually assaulted by Defendant Cosby.” (Id.) Hill allegedly did not come forward at the time of the abuse because she was too intimidated and afraid to do so. While “Cosby was extremely powerful, wealthy and influential in status,” Hill “was young, impressionable, and seemingly powerless.” (Id.) She also did not know that other women had allegedly suffered similar abuse. For the next twenty years, Hill maintained her silence. In 2005, Andrea Constand claimed that Cosby had drugged and sexually assaulted her. In the civil lawsuit she filed against 1 “A” refers to the appendix, and “SA” refers to the supplemental appendix. 3 Cosby, Constand named thirteen other alleged victims, and, before her case was settled, a number of these women had come forward with their own accusations. On or about November 13, 2014, Barbara Bowmen “penned an op-ed in the Washington Post titled ‘Bill Cosby raped me. Why did it take 30 years for people to believe my story?’” (A50.) More accusers then came forward. Emboldened by these women’s example, Hill decided to share her own story. On November 20, 2014, she was interviewed by Ralph Ianotti, a reporter with KDKA. “In the interview, Renita revealed much of the above-mentioned fact pattern and explained that she felt compelled to come forward after hearing Cosby’s [sic] criticize the other woman who came forward.” (A51.) According to Hill, Cosby retaliated against her and the other abuse victims by publishing statements designed to bring into question their honesty and motivations. Hill highlighted three such statements: (1) a November 21, 2014 statement by Cosby’s attorney, Martin Singer, Esq., given to The Washington Post for use in an article published on November 22, 2014 entitled “‘Bill Cosby’s legacy, recast: Accusers speak in detail about sexual-assault allegations’” (“Singer Statement”) (A52); (2) a statement made by Cosby himself during an interview conducted on or about the same day by Florida Today (“Florida Today Statement”); and (3) a December 15, 2014 letter published by The Washington Post written by his wife and business manager, Camille Cosby (“Camille Cosby Statement”). 4 According to Singer: The new, never-before-heard claims from women who have come forward in the past two weeks with unsubstantiated, fantastical stories about things they say occurred 30, 40, or even 50 years ago have escalated far past the point of absurdity. These brand new claims about alleged decades-old events are becoming increasingly ridiculous and it is completely illogical that so many people would have said nothing, done nothing, and made no reports to law enforcement or asserted civil claims if they thought they had been assaulted over a span of so many years. Lawsuits are filed against people in the public eye every day. There has never been a shortage of lawyers willing to represent people with claims against rich, powerful men, so it makes no sense that not one of these new women who just came forward for the first time now ever asserted a legal claim back at the time they allege they had been sexually assaulted. This situation is an unprecedented example of the media’s breakneck rush to run stories without any corroboration or adherence to traditional journalistic standards. Over and over again, we have refuted these new unsubstantiated stories with documentary evidence, only to have a new uncorroborated story crop out of the woodwork. When will it end? It is long past time for this media vilification of Mr. Cosby to stop. (A51-A52.) In her complaint, Hill focused on the following excerpt from Cosby’s Florida Today interview: I know people are tired of me not saying anything, but a guy doesn’t have to answer to innuendos. People should fact-check. People shouldn’t have to go through that and shouldn’t answer to innuendos. (A52.) Cosby provided the District Court with the Florida Today Statement in its entirety: 5 So today I was informed of this radio station that is offering money for people to stand up and heckle in order to collect prizes and money. The thing is, these people are prodding and pushing people and asking people to have a frat house mentality. Now suppose someone brings a weapon or decided to do more foolishness. There will be announcements made and the stations made some disclaimers, but what if people don’t listen to what they said and they entice violence. That’s not good for anyone. When you go to a civil rights march or something like that, at least there are meetings and some organization to it and people understand how to behave. There may be people coming to the show that don’t know exactly what to do; there is no organization to it all. I know people are tired of me not saying anything, but a guy doesn’t have to answer to innuendos. People should fact-check. People shouldn’t have to go through that and shouldn’t answer to innuendos. (SA2 (emphasis omitted) (citing A52).) Hill alleged that Camille Cosby questioned the victims’ honesty by stating that “‘[T]here appears to be no vetting of my husband’s accusers before stories are published or aired.’” (A53.) “In an apparent attempt to cast further doubt on the honestly [sic] of Defendant Cosby’s accusers, Camille Cosby also compared the accusations to alleged rape accusations at the University of Virginia, which eventually were proven to have been fabricated.” (Id.) According to Cosby, his wife stated the following: I met my husband, Bill Cosby, in 1963, and we were married in 1964. The man I met, and fell in love with, and whom I continue to love, is the man you all knew through his work. He is a kind man, a generous man, a funny man, and a wonderful husband, father and friend. He is the man you thought you knew. A different man has been portrayed in the media over the last two months. It is the portrait of a man I do not know. It is also a portrait painted by individuals and organizations whom many in the media have given a pass. 6 There appears to be no vetting of my husband’s accusers before stories are published or aired. An accusation is published, and immediately goes viral. We all followed the story of the article in “Rolling Stone” concerning allegations of rape at the University of Virginia.
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