Bill Cosby trial
Retired comedian and actor Bill Cosby Eduardo Munoz Alvarez-Pool/Getty Images

Bill Cosby is facing a new lawsuit after a former actress accused him of sexually assaulting her and one of her friends more than 50 years ago.

Victoria Valentino, a former Playboy model and actress, has filed a lawsuit against Cosby under a new California law that gives people a 3-year window to file a civil sexual assault lawsuit if the applicable statute of limitations has expired.

The lawsuit has been filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court and is the first such lawsuit filed against the actor under the new law. It further states that the actress was sexually assaulted by Cosby almost 54 years ago.

According to the lawsuit, she was sitting at a Los Angeles cafe when Cosby approached her. Valentino had just lost her son to drowning and was spotted crying by the actor.

He offered to pay for a spa treatment for Valentino and her friend and later sent his car to pick them up for dinner at a steakhouse. Valentino says that he gave each of them a pill stating that "it will make us ALL feel better."

"After ingesting the pill, Plaintiff's head began nodding and she struggled to keep her head up and stay awake. Plaintiff felt nauseated, and her head was spinning. She stated, 'I want to go home now,'" read the court filing.

Cosby then drove the women to his office, claims Valentino in the lawsuit. She later passed out on the couch, and when she woke up, she saw the actor assaulting her friend, whose name has not been revealed.

The documents state that Cosby then "engaged in forced sexual intercourse" with Valentino while she was in a drugged state. The lawsuit claims that the "plaintiff was incapable of consent by reason of being drugged by Cosby and physically helpless."

Valentino is seeking general, special, and punitive damages, as well as attorney and court fees, from Cosby and says that "it's not about money, it's about accountability."

"Rape steals something from you that cannot be repaired or restored," The Washington Post quoted her as saying.

This is not the first time that 85-year-old Cosby has been accused of sexual assault. The retired comedian was convicted in 2005 after several decades of dealing with dozens of sexual assault allegations.

The former actor had only served nearly three years of his 10-year sentence, which was imposed on him in 2018 after he was found guilty of three counts of aggravated indecent assault.

The decision was overturned by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court because of an agreement he made with then-Montgomery County district attorney Bruce Castor in 2005, which stated that he would be immune from criminal prosecution if he sat for a deposition in a civil case brought by one of his accusers, Andrea Constand.

The court ruled that the decision to use Cosby's statements from his deposition against him deprived him of his Fifth Amendment rights, and stated that the actor had been subject to "an unconstitutional 'coercive bait-and-switch'" which is a "due process violation."

Castor declined to prosecute Cosby in the case because he didn't believe that there was enough evidence against him.

However, Castor's successor, Kevin Steele, got Cosby arrested in 2015, days before the statute of limitations expired using his deposition where the comedian confessed that he used to give quaaludes to women with whom he wanted to have sex, and also admitted to numerous extramarital affairs.

Constand had played a huge role in Cosby's prosecution with her testimony that she was drugged and sexually assaulted by the actor at his Pennsylvania mansion in 2004. Five other women also helped convince jurors to convict Cosby with their testimony.

However, Cosby denied the accusations levelled by the six women inside the courtroom, as well as the sexual assault allegations made by more than 60 women outside the court.