Does rule protect Bill Cosby's wife from giving deposition testimony?
Legal experts are divided on whether and to what extent Bill Cosby’s wife, Camille, is protected from giving deposition testimony in a defamation suit against the comedian over his sexual-assault denials.
Bill Cosby’s wife of 52 years, Camille, is appealing a federal magistrate’s order denying a motion to quash in the civil suit. The Washington Post spoke with lawyers and law professors for their take on the issue.
At issue is the Massachusetts spousal disqualification rule, which says: “In any proceeding, civil or criminal, a witness shall not testify as to private conversations with a spouse occurring during their marriage.”
A different rule, the spousal privilege rule, gives broader protection to spouses called to testify, but it applies only in criminal cases.
In his Dec. 31 order (PDF), U.S. Magistrate Judge David Hennessy of Massachusetts said the spousal disqualification rule concerns the admissibility of evidence at trial, and is not a privilege against discovery. Hennessy also said Camille Cosby acted as her husband’s business manager and may have relevant information from that role. “This more than suffices to outweigh any purported burden that will be imposed by dint of her having to testify,” Hennessy said.
Boston College law professor Mark Brodin told the Washington Post he found Hennessy’s decision somewhat perplexing. “To rule that that disqualification—if it applies at all—applies only to trial testimony and not deposition testimony, strikes me as significantly undercutting the purpose of the statute: to protect the privacy of spousal conversations,” Brodin said.
Others disagreed on whether the rule applies only to trials. And Northeastern University law professor Daniel Medwed said the rule’s protection for private conversations between spouses didn’t provide blanket protection.
He identified these possible questions that could be posed: Did you ever observe your husband engage in a sex act with someone else? Did you observe him with Quaaludes? Did you ever observe him with drugs or see a prescription bottle? Did you see a hotel receipt?
