Joseph Brooks denies rape allegation

NEW YORK, Feb. 4 (UPI) -- Songwriter-director-producer Joseph Brooks says he had consensual sex with the Seattle woman who has accused him of rape and is now suing him for $5 million.

The New York Post said Brooks, who won an Oscar for penning the title song to the 1977 movie "You Light Up My Life," rebutted the woman's claims in a Manhattan federal court filing this week.

The 70-year-old composer said in the court papers that the woman identified only as Jane Doe "voluntarily entered" his Manhattan apartment last year and "was free to leave at any time."

He also admitted he had sex with her, but insisted it was consensual, the Post said.

The woman claims in her lawsuit that Brooks first lured her to his apartment to discuss a possible film role. She said he then drugged, beat, raped and sodomized her, the newspaper noted.

Brooks also wrote and directed the movie "You Light Up My Life," and produced the film "Eddie and the Cruisers."