PHILADELPHIA — A Pittsburgh-area woman is appealing a court decision that threw out her defamation lawsuit against Bill Cosby.

Renita Hill said Cosby and his agents defamed her when they denied allegations the actor drugged and molested her.

Hill said Cosby, his wife and lawyer painted her as a “liar” and “extortionist.”

A federal judge in Pittsburgh found the First Amendment protected the comments and dismissed Hill’s lawsuit in January.

Hill’s lawyer argued on appeal that the Cosby camp knew the allegations were true and therefore defamatory.

Hill says that Cosby drugged and molested her several times after they met on the TV show, “Picture Pages,” in 1983, starting when she was 16.

Her lawyer says she was recently deposed by Gloria Allred as part of another accuser’s lawsuit.