Image: Actor, comedian and author Bill Cosby speaks at the Children’s Defense Fund’s National Summit at Howard University in Washington September 25, 2007. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
By Daina Beth Solomon
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The attorney representing a woman suing Bill Cosby for sexually abusing her when she was 15, will deliver an update on a deposition the comedian was scheduled to give Friday.
Attorney Gloria Allred, representing accuser Judy Huth, said she will give a brief statement Saturday in Boston on Cosby’s testimony under oath. The deposition has been sealed by a judge’s order pending further review in December.
While Allred and Cosby’s lawyers did not reveal the location of the deposition, it may have taken place in Massachusetts, where the comedian lives.
Cosby’s spokesman Andrew Wyatt told Reuters he could neither confirm nor deny whether the deposition was taking place Friday or that it had been completed.
Also on Friday, federal court Judge Mark Mastroianni in Massachusetts refused to dismiss a defamation lawsuit filed by three women against Cosby.
Tamara Green, Therese Serignese and Linda Traitz said Cosby had defamed them when they went public with their allegations of sexual assault, and sued the comedian. Cosby’s lawyers had asked the judge in February to dismiss the suit.
In the past year, more than 50 women have come forward with allegations against Cosby including drugging, sexual harassment, sexual assault and rape.
Friday’s deposition marks the first time Cosby has been directed to testify under oath in response to sexual misconduct complaints since a deposition he gave in a Pennsylvania case he settled out of court nine years ago.
Depositions generally occur away from courthouses, with no need for a presiding judge, said spokeswoman Mary Hearn of the Los Angeles Superior Court, where the case is being heard.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Craig Karlan said on Thursday he would seal Cosby’s deposition at least until December, at which point he will decide which parts could be made public after reviewing the transcript, according to Allred.
Most of the allegations of sexual abuse against Cosby date back decades and therefore fall outside the statute of limitations for legal action.
According to Allred, however, Huth’s case cites repressed psychological injuries that she claims were only discovered in the last three years, which would allow legal action under the statute of limitations even though the alleged incident occurred in 1974.
(Additional reporting by Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Diane Craft and Lisa Shumaker)
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