Bill Cosby Update: Rape Accuser’s Defamation Suit Dismissed

The defamation suit that was brought against Bill Cosby has been dismissed as the Supreme Court justices refused to hear it during an appeal of the case.

The lawsuit was filed by one of Cosby’s accusers, actress Kathrine Mae McKee, who claims that the 81-year-old comedian’s lawyer Martin Singer, defamed her in a letter and press release, USA Today reported. Cosby’s attorney Singer called McKee a liar in a letter that was leaked to the New York Daily News.

McKee claimed defamation in court, which was denied by two lower federal courts earlier, finding that she had become a “limited purpose public figure.” The Supreme Court upheld the decision of the lower courts by refusing to hear the case.

While Justice Clarence Thomas agreed with the decision of the Supreme Court, he did request that the court reconsider the standards to which public figures are held to in order to win a defamation suit, the Associated Press reported.

The high standards for public figures were set in the New York Times v. Sullivan case of 1964.

McKee joined the ranks of woman that accused Cosby of rape and sexual assault. McKee said that she had been raped by Cosby in 1974.

Cosby is serving three to 10 years in the SCI-Phoenix prison in Pennsylvania for the 2004 drugging and sexual assault of Andrea Constand.