Bill Cosby fighting $1M/month legal bill in arbitration

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A fee dispute between actor Bill Cosby and a Los Angeles law firm shows the firm billed him about $1 million a month in the run-up to his first sex assault trial.

The 81-year-old Cosby is challenging a California arbitration award that trims the $9 million bill from Quinn Emanuel Urquhart and Sullivan to below $7 million.

Cosby accuses the firm of fraud, elder abuse and "egregious" billing practices in a petition Friday.

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The arbitration panel cut the bill by 25 percent, but found its lawyer rates of about $500 to $1,000 an hour reasonable for its share of pretrial work on the criminal case and nine civil cases filed around the country.

The law firm did not immediately return a message late Monday seeking comment.

Cosby is serving a three- to 10-year prison term in Pennsylvania after a 2018 retrial.