PHILADELPHIA — A Philadelphia law firm has sued Bill Cosby, seeking what it says are nearly $283,000 in unpaid legal fees.
Samuel Silver, of the firm Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis, worked for Cosby on legal issues in the state, including charges that Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted Andrea Constand, a former Temple University employee.
Silver was retained in January 2016 but withdrew from the case in January 2018 before Cosby was convicted in April of three counts of aggravated indecent assault for drugging and assaulting Constand. Cosby began serving a three- to 10-year sentence this week.
Cosby paid Silver’s bills through June 30, 2017, but hasn’t paid anything billed after that time, according to the complaint, which was filed September 21.
The lawsuit also seeks payment of a 1.5% late fee.
In December 2017, Cosby’s spokesman Andrew Wyatt wrote Silver saying Camille Cosby, Cosby’s wife, would be unable to make the payments she had agreed to make by the end of the year and needed until the second week in January, according to the complaint.
She did not make the payment at that time, and Silver continued to try to collect through the spring and summer.
In July 2018, Cosby’s assistant Debbie Meister wrote Silver, “Mr. Cosby is raising funds to be able to pay you by August 15,” according to the complaint. But that payment was not made either.
Wyatt declined to comment on Thursday because he had not seen the complaint.