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 Tamara Green sued Cosby in December 2014, accusing him of
lying when he publicly denied having sexually assaulted her, and
six other women have since joined in the lawsuit. Cosby, 78,
filed a countersuit in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts last
month, accusing the women of defaming him.
The seven are among more than 50 women who have come forward to
publicly accuse Cosby of sexually assaulting them after plying
them with drugs or alcohol in alleged attacks carried out over a
number of decades.
The accusations toppled Cosby from his pedestal as one of
America's most-admired comedians, who built a long career on
family-friendly humor. He was best known for his role as the dad
Heathcliff Huxtable in the long-running 1980s television hit,
"The Cosby Show."
Cosby has repeatedly denied wrongdoing. Last month prosecutors
in Pennsylvania charged him with a 2004 sexual assault days
before the statute of limitations on that alleged crime was to
expire.
He faces several civil suits.
Cosby's attorneys are scheduled to argue before U.S. Magistrate
Judge David Hennessy in Worcester, Massachusetts, that any
testimony related to the lawsuits be kept under seal until
trial.
"The law is clear: trial — not discovery — is the 'fact-finding'
process in which the public has a common law and constitutional
interest," Cosby's attorneys wrote in a filing this week. "Mr.
Cosby's undisputed privacy interest and his need for protection
from annoyance, embarrassment, and undue prejudice establish
good cause to enter the limited protective order he seeks."
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Attorneys for the women have argued that the request is unjustified.
"Cosby himself has sought out publicity when it suits him – for
example, by defaming the plaintiffs as liars in 2014," lawyers for
the seven women wrote. "That being so, the public should know all of
the material facts surrounding this case, regarding whether
defendant Cosby's private conduct comports with his public persona."
Cosby testified in 2005 that he had obtained the sedative drug
Quaaludes, popular in the 1970s, intending to give them to young
women he desired to have sex with, according to court documents
unsealed in July as part of a separate legal proceeding.
(Reporting by Scott Malone; Editing by David Gregorio)
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