Judge orders Bill Cosby and his ex-lawyer to submit to deposition in suit over rape denial
A Los Angeles judge on Monday ordered Bill Cosby and his former lawyer to submit to a deposition in a defamation lawsuit filed by model Janice Dickinson.
Judge Debre Katz Weintraub’s deposition ruling allows the lawyer, Martin Singer, and Cosby to refuse to answer some questions due to attorney-client privilege, report the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, the New York Times ArtsBeat blog, ABC News and Patch.com.
The deposition will be limited to questions about whether Cosby and his lawyer knew or should have known Singer made a false statement when he denied Dickinson’s claims that Cosby had raped her and accused her of making up the story.
A lawyer for Cosby said the decision would be appealed.
Cosby replaced Singer last month with the law firm Quinn Emmanuel Urquhart & Sullivan in suits by Dickinson and another plaintiff.
Cosby’s lawyers say in court papers that Dickinson’s suit should be dismissed because the denials were made in “pre-litigation” documents written in connection with a judicial proceeding, according to the story by Patch.com. The lawyers say the statements addressed matters of public interest and are protected by the First Amendment.
