A federal judge in Philadelphia has granted the accusers of comedian Bill Cosby access over the case files of the lawsuit filed by Andrea Constand. She has claimed that the actor sexually assaulted her back in 2005.
In a report by News 1130, the judge, Anita Brody, rejected the request from Cosby and his legal team to suppress the subpoena for the case files of the former Temple University employee's lawyer to be viewed. Brody said that despite the confidential settlement between Constand and Cosby in the civil case, the agreement does not apply to the third parties involved, thus, they cannot block the disclosure of the materials.
Variety reported that the seven women, Barbara Bowman, Tamara Green, Angela Leslie, Louisa Moritz, Therese Serignese, Joan Tarshis, and Linda Traitz, accused Cosby of sexually assaulting them in the past. However, Cosby and his team called the women liars, hence, the defamation lawsuit.
The files that could be viewed by the plaintiffs are those from the attorney of Constand, Dolores Troiani. The seven women are seeking the file as they want to gather evidence in order to prove their accusations against Cosby true. The attorneys of Cosby have filed a counter lawsuit against the seven women as they contended that the women's accusations have tainted the reputation of the comedian, CP 24 reported.
The attorneys of Cosby wanted the subpoena to be quashed as they argued that there was no compelling justification to disclose the confidential materials. They also argued that not all the case files are relevant to the case of the seven plaintiffs. Brody did, however, granted the motion of Cosby's team to prevent the court from releasing any other court filings about the Constand case.
Cosby is facing criminal charges regarding the Constand case after a Pennsylvania prosecutor filed the charges in December. A preliminary hearing for the case has been put on hold as Cosby and his team are still appealing to have the case dismissed.
