Bill Cosby's First Accuser Seeks To Have Secret Records Opened
By Steve Tawa
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The woman at the center of a civil lawsuit filed ten years ago against Bill Cosby now wants to take her story public.
Andrea Constand's 2005 lawsuit was the first of many allegations that have since been lodged against the embattled Philadelphia celebrity.
While working at Temple, she claimed, Cosby gave her a substance which he misrepresented as an "herbal remedy" for a cold. She alleges that Cosby, whom she considered to be a mentor and grandfather figure, then groped her while she was in a semiconscious state at his home in Cheltenham.
The parties settled the case in 2006, and both sides signed a confidentiality agreement.
Now, Constand's lawyers claim that as the number of women coming forward with allegations against Cosby have increased, the entertainer and his staff have repeatedly ignored the confidentiality provisions of her settlement agreement in an attempt to sway public opinion his way.
In a new filing in federal court in Philadelphia, Constand now seeks to have Cosby's entire deposition in her initial case released to the public and the confidentiality provision of their settlement agreement voided.
Cosby has denied assaulting her or any other woman. He said Constand's encounter with him was consensual.
