A court has now ruled that the insurer will be required to pay for the celebrity if he loses his sexual assault case.
Although this year has certainly not been the best one Bill Cosby has ever lived, particularly in terms of the sexual assault allegations that have been placed against him, a recent court ruling has given him a potential financial break as his insurance company will be required to pay for him if he is found to have been guilty of these atrocities.
In the sexual assault case filed against Cosby by Janice Dickinson, the insurance policy will cover his expenses.
Despite the efforts made by the AIG insurance company in order to attempt to have the judge say that the alleged sexual assaults of Cosby are not covered, this was not the direction that the court took in its recent ruling. AIG was arguing that Cosby’s policy excluded personal injury claims “arising out of … sexual molestation, misconduct or harassment.” If the court had sided with the insurance company, Bill Cosby would have been required to pay for all legal expenses and other costs out of his own pocket.
The insurance company asserted that the allegations against Cosby from Dickinson invalidated his coverage.
Janice Dickinson’s claims were that in 1982, Cosby drugged and assaulted her. She also alleges that in January 2015, he made a joke about the allegations that led her to experience emotional distress. This, according to AIG, falls into the clause description of Cosby’s insurance policy and, therefore, removes them from the responsibility of paying for his legal costs.
That said, a judge has now ruled that the insurance policy’s exclusion clause is an ambiguous one. The judge claimed that it was not adequately specific, as she said that the wording of “arising out of” is ambiguous and therefore leaves some question as to specifically what it involves.
This resolves only one of a large number of other issues that are being argued between Cosby and the AIG insurance company. That said, in this specific case, it represents a considerable financial and legal win for the comedian.