Apple cider vinegar Is Pilates for you? 'Ambient gaslighting' 'Main character energy'
PEOPLE
Bill Cosby

Camille Cosby's deposition in civil suit will proceed, with limits

Maria Puente
USA TODAY
Bill and Camille Cosby in October 2009 at Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

Bill Cosby won a mixed ruling Thursday in one of the civil suits filed against him by his accusers: His wife, Camille, will be compelled to sit for a deposition, but she doesn't have to answer all the questions, a federal judge ruled.

While his criminal case is pending in Pennsylvania, Cosby's legal team is still dealing with the defamation suit filed against him in federal court in Massachusetts by seven of the women who accuse him of drugging and/or raping or sexually assaulting them decades ago.

The women and their lawyer, Joe Cammarota, want to grill Camille Cosby, as her husband's business manager and his wife of five decades, about what she knew and when she knew it regarding Cosby's possible extramarital activities with other women.

Cosby tried to get the deposition quashed but last month, a magistrate judge rejected his motion.Cosby then appealed.

Bill Cosby after hearing in Montgomery County, Pa., on Feb. 3, 2016 on criminal sexual assault charges.

On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Mark Mastroianni upheld the magistrate's ruling but said Camille Cosby may refuse to answer questions barred under the Massachusetts marital disqualification rule. That rule generally prohibits spouses from being forced to testify about private conversations with their spouse.

Andrew Wyatt, spokesman for Cosby's legal team, sent an emailed statement calling the decision "critically important" because it agreed with Cosby's argument  "affirming the confidential nature of and protection afforded to marital communications."

Cammarota had said earlier he scheduled the deposition with Camille Cosby for Feb. 22, in Springfield, Mass. He said he considered the ruling a victory for his clients, and that the limits on questions to Cosby's wife are not an obstacle to his case.

Judge holds up Cosby deposition but wife Camille's could go forward

The lawsuit is one of a half-dozen filed against Cosby by some of his accusers. The seven plaintiffs in this suit argue that Cosby defamed them in his initial public statements denying their accusations by suggesting they were lying.

Cosby's lawyers have tried to get the suit thrown out (he's already succeeded in getting another defamation suit dismissed) but has so far not succeeded in the Massachusetts case.

Cosby has been charged with felony aggravated indecent assault in Montgomery County, Pa., where he has a home, in connection with a 2004 encounter with an ex-Temple University employee. It's the only criminal charge against him arising from the accusations of nearly 60 women that he assaulted them in episodes dating back to the mid 1960s.

His initial motions to get those charges dismissed were rejected last week; the next hearing in the case is scheduled for March 8.

Featured Weekly Ad