New round in Cos ‘defame’

A lawyer for an actress who claims Bill Cosby raped her in 1974 told a US appeals court on Wednesday that the comedian “destroyed” her reputation by calling her a liar after she came forward with her allegations in a 2014 newspaper interview.

Katherine McKee’s lawyer made that claim as he urged the 1st US Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston to revive a defamation lawsuit she filed against Cosby based on a letter his lawyer sent the New York Daily News after it published the interview.

“This case is about defamation” and restoring McKee’s “good name,” argued William Salo, McKee’s attorney.

Alan Greenberg, an attorney for Cosby, said the suit was properly dismissed in February.

McKee is one of dozens of women who made allegations of sexual assault by Cosby going back decades. Cosby, 80, has denied wrongdoing in all of the cases.