Lawyer: Cain's 90s Accuser Wants To Talk, But Wants To Be Released From Confidentiality Agreement

I don't see that happening. The Restaurant Association, presumably, holds that agreement, and they will most likely rebuff the request.

Lawyer Joel P. Bennett called on the National Restaurant Association, where the woman and Cain worked in the late 1990s, to release the woman from her written promise not to talk about the allegations or disparage the trade group.

“It is just frustrating that Herman Cain is going around bad-mouthing the two complainants, and my client is blocked by a confidentiality agreement,” Bennett said. “The National Restaurant Association ought to release them and allow them to respond. ”

The association, which Cain headed from 1996 to 1999, has remained mum since the story broke in Politico on Sunday evening, citing a long-standing policy not to comment on personnel issues. Cain denied the sexual harassment allegations, saying they were “totally baseless and totally false.”

Bennett represents one of the two women, who attended an Ivy League school and now works for the federal government.

...

If she is released from the confidentiality ban, “then it is whole new ballgame,” Bennett said.

“If we didn’t have a written settlement agreement that says confidential and no disparagement, I think she’d be very comfortable coming forward,” the attorney told The Post on Tuesday. “Not because she would be so hellbent on doing something to Herman Cain — I don’t know that.

“For all practical purposes, Herman Cain has already done that” — waived confidentiality, Bennett said. “But legally that might not constitute a waiver.”

I think this is why the women weren't quoted -- they were talking, but with the understanding Politico could never say they were talking. It came from them, most likely, on background.

Now that Cain himself has been prompted to comment, the claim will be that Cain violated the terms of the agreement, so it's no longer in effect for anyone.

posted by Ace at 06:02 PM

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