Fighting a sexual assault charge, Bill Cosby is now suing former Temple University employee Andrea Constand, the woman whose rape allegations have fueled a criminal proceeding. 
 
 Cosby has filed his complaint under the cloak of seal. A Pennsylvania judge ordered that he refile a redacted copy by Tuesday, but thus far, Cosby has failed to do so. The new lawsuit targets Constand, her mother, two of her attorneys and the parent company of National Enquirer and according to sources, deals with promised confidentiality. 
 
 Constand originally went to law enforcement authorities in 2004 with allegations that after Cosby befriended her, and she resisted his sexual advances, Cosby gave her pills and wine and then proceeded towards sexual acts without her consent. At the time, the District Attorney elected not to pursue charges, and she sued Cosby. Constand added American Media, Inc. over an interview and story it completed with Cosby around the same time. The case was settled in 2006, but amid other women coming forward with similar stories about Cosby, the Constand case was reignited upon the revelation of what Cosby had said in a deposition in the civil lawsuit. 
 
 Cosby's admission that he gave women pills for the purpose of sex caused the new District Attorney in Montgomery County, Pa. to open a new investigation, and at the end of this past year to file a charge against Cosby for committing aggravated indecent assault, a second-degree felony. Earlier this month, a judge allowed the case to move forward over Cosby's objection that he had struck a non-prosecution agreement with the former DA. 
 
 Notwithstanding Cosby's recent attempt to pause civil litigation against him by other women, the entertainer is now bringing a new lawsuit against Constand. 
 
 Although the complaint is not yet public, the fact that American Media, Inc. is named as a co-defendant in a contract claim almost certainly means this dispute pertains to the decade-old settlement agreement. Cosby could be aiming to shut up his accuser by getting a judge to enforce a confidentiality provision. Constand's attorney has previously indicated that her client will cooperate fully, which presumably means she'll agree to testify. "She'll do whatever she needs to do, whatever they ask of her," said Dolores Troiani. 
 
 Cosby could also be eyeing a breach of the settlement agreement already. Last July, Cosby began investigating how The New York Times was able to obtain his deposition and hinted at legal action. "How that deposition became public without being court-sanctioned is something we are going to pursue and deal with very vigorously," said one of Cosby's attorneys at the time. 
 
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 On the eve of a critical hearing in his criminal case earlier this month, Bill Cosby sued the two lawyers for the woman who accused him of drugging and sexually assaulting her, according to court records. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 The timing of the legal action meant that what was already a dramatic scene two weeks ago inside a courthouse in Norristown, Pa., had extra meaning for the two lawyers, Dolores M. Troiani and Bebe H. Kivitz, who have tenaciously challenged Mr. Cosby in representing their client, Andrea Constand, over the past 11 years. Both testified in a pretrial hearing knowing that they were the subject of a separate civil action. Only on Tuesday did Judge Eduardo C. Robreno of United States District Court in Pennsylvania lift the seal on parts of the civil case. 
 
 The hearing, in Montgomery County court, was over whether the criminal case against Mr. Cosby could proceed. The judge, Steven T. O’Neill, later ruled it could go forward. 
 
 The suit, which was filed in United States District Court in Pennsylvania and initially placed under seal, underscores how aggressive and multifaceted Mr. Cosby’s legal strategy has become in combating the numerous civil cases and the criminal case against him. 
 
 Anne Poulin, a law professor at Villanova University who is unconnected to the case, said that filing a lawsuit of this kind while a related criminal case was ongoing was unusual, and that the Pennsylvania lawsuit could be an alternate attempt by Mr. Cosby to buy time. 
 
 “Obviously they’re trying to fight on as many fronts as they can,” Ms. Poulin said. 
 
 The exact nature of the suit is unclear, because it is still partly under seal. 
 
 But one concern of the Cosby legal team has been the degree of any cooperation between Ms. Troiani and Ms. Kivitz with the Montgomery County district attorney, Kevin R. Steele, who is trying to bring Mr. Cosby’s criminal case to trial. 
 
 In an initial investigation in 2005, a predecessor of Mr. Steele decided not to bring charges against Mr. Cosby after Ms. Constand accused Mr. Cosby of sexually assaulting her at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004. 
 
 In a subsequent civil suit, she won a financial settlement from Mr. Cosby, in 2006. But the terms were kept secret under a confidentiality agreement. 
 
 Since then, Mr. Cosby’s lawyers have repeatedly accused Ms. Troiani and Ms. Kivitz of breaching that agreement. 
 
 During the hearing in Norristown, Ms. Troiani was cross-examined by Mr. Cosby’s lawyer Monique Pressley about how Mr. Steele reopened the criminal investigation. 
 
 Ms. Troiani said Mr. Steele called her and asked to come to her office. She said he asked her to approach Ms. Constand about cooperating in the new investigation. 
 
 “I did not go to him,” Ms. Troiani testified. “He initiated the contact,” she added. 
 
 But she explained, she said during cross-examination, what the settlement required Mr. Steele to do in order to obtain her file on the Cosby civil case without a search warrant, which Ms. Pressley seemed to suggest was a breach of the agreement. 
 
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 “You divulged what was in the confidential settlement agreement to the district attorney before they made the request for the file, didn’t you?” Ms. Pressley said. 
 
 The lawsuit against Ms. Troiani and Ms. Kivitz was filed on Feb. 1, and at one point in the testimony two days later, Ms. Troiani alludes to Mr. Cosby’s “lawsuit against me.” 
 
 Judge Robreno ordered Mr. Cosby to file a redacted version of the complaint with the federal court in Philadelphia. The redacted complaint was not publicly available by late Wednesday. Ms. Pressley declined to comment further. A lawyer for Ms. Troiani and Ms. Kivitz, Jeffrey B. McCarron, declined to comment. 
 
 The suit also names as defendants Ms. Constand; her mother, Gianna; and American Media, publisher of The National Enquirer. 
 
 A lawyer for American Media said he was aware that his client had been sued but that he had not seen the lawsuit. Ms. Constand sued The National Enquirer for libel in 2006, and won a financial settlement from it. The details of its settlement appear to fall under the confidential agreement between Ms. Constand and Mr. Cosby. American Media has been fighting recently to keep those details protected after lawyers for seven other women in Massachusetts who are suing Mr. Cosby for defamation sought to obtain Ms. Troiani’s case files. 
 
 A pretrial hearing in the criminal case has been scheduled for March 8.
– Two days before a judge moved forward with the sexual assault case against him, Bill Cosby sued his accuser, claiming she breached a confidentiality agreement signed as part of a 2006 settlement. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports specific allegations weren't made clear on Tuesday when a judge partially lifted a seal on the suit, naming Andrea Constand, her lawyers Dolores Troiani and Bebe Kivitz, her mother, and the publisher of the National Enquirer as defendants. All apparently signed a confidentiality agreement when Constand settled a civil suit against Cosby, whom she accused of drugging and molesting her in 2004. Cosby's lawyers have repeatedly accused Constand's attorneys of breaching the agreement in the past, reports the New York Times, describing Cosby's latest move as "aggressive." During a pretrial hearing earlier this month, Troiani said the agreement barred Constand from initiating a criminal case against Cosby. However, she argued Constand was in her rights to cooperate with authorities who reached out to her, like the Montgomery County DA who reopened the criminal investigation into her alleged assault. Cosby lawyer Monique Pressley suggested Troiani "divulged what was in the confidential settlement agreement to the district attorney before they made the request for the file." The Hollywood Reporter points out Cosby's lawyers also hinted at legal action after Cosby's deposition in the 2006 civil case became public in July. "How that deposition became public without being court-sanctioned is something we are going to pursue and deal with very vigorously," a lawyer said. It's not the first time he's tried to turn the tables on accusers.