Attorneys Seek Court Order to Press John Edwards on Sex Tape

March 3, 2011— -- Attorneys for a former aide to John Edwards today sought a court order to compel the two-time presidential candidate to provide additional information in a dispute over ownership of a sex tape he allegedly made with his mistress.

Edwards gave a sworn deposition in the case last month.

The details of the court filing are shielded from public view because of a broad protective order sought by Edwards' attorneys in advance of the deposition and issued last year by the judge. But if the court were to grant a hearing on the motion, it is possible that a transcript of Edwards' deposition, or portions of it, could be entered into the public record.

Edwards' testimony was taken in Chapel Hill last month in connection with the civil suit filed by his mistress, Rielle Hunter, against Andrew Young and his wife, Cheri.

Andrew Young, a former close aide to Edwards, claimed in 2007 that he was the father of Hunter's child, but retracted that assertion last year and published a tell-all book, writing that he took the fall for Edwards as part of an elaborate and expensive cover-up of the affair designed to protect Edwards' political aspirations.

Hunter brought the suit in January 2010, days before the publication date of Young's book, "The Politician." At the center of the suit is Hunter's allegation that Young took from her a "personal and private" videotape that depicts Edwards and Hunter in a sexual encounter, as well as a series of photographs that include images of Edwards with his daughter, Quinn, who turned 3 last week.

Attorneys for Hunter and Edwards, who is not a party in the lawsuit, have pointedly accused Young of trying to sell the sex tape and of using it to promote his book and a forthcoming film adaptation by Oscar-winning screenwriter Aaron Sorkin.

Young Denies Trying to Sell Tape

But Young contends he found the tape discarded in a box of trash in a rented Chapel Hill home that Hunter once shared with his family and claims that Hunter uploaded the photographs to a computer they all shared while hiding out in a California mansion.

Young denies trying to sell the tape and says he kept it and the other items as evidence to back up the claims in his book.

All the disputed items are in possession of the court pending the resolution of the dispute and the judge has issued a series of broad protective orders forbidding the parties from discussing details of the case with the media.