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Camille Cosby's lawyers file emergency motion to postpone deposition Bill Cosby's wife to be questioned under oath
(about 3 hours later)
Lawyers for Bill Cosby’s wife have filed an emergency motion to postpone her deposition while she appeals a magistrate judge’s order. Bill Cosby’s wife is due to answer questions under oath in a defamation lawsuit brought against her husband by seven women who claim the comedian sexually assaulted them decades ago.
The motion filed late on Saturday says the 71-year-old Camille Cosby’s deposition scheduled for Monday should be delayed because she “has had no involvement with the facts or allegations underlying this case”. Camille Cosby is scheduled to be questioned by a lawyer for the women on Monday at the Springfield Marriott hotel in Massachusetts. It is believed to be the first deposition she has given since dozens of women went public with allegations of sexual misconduct against her husband.
It argues that her public testimony would create “an unnecessary media circus and personal security threat that serves no purpose other than to harass and embarrass her”. Lawyers for the Cosbys have argued that she does not have any information on the accuracy of the women’s claims and that her conversations with her husband are confidential under the Massachusetts marital disqualification rule.
Camille Cosby is slated to answer questions under oath in a defamation lawsuit brought against her husband by seven women who say he sexually assaulted them decades ago. A judge had ruled on Friday that Camille Cosby’s deposition must proceed. However, defence lawyers filed an emergency motion late on Saturday requesting it be delayed, saying the 71-year-old “has had no involvement with the facts or allegations underlying this case”. They argued her public testimony would create “an unnecessary media circus and personal security threat that serves no purpose other than to harass and embarrass her”.
Lawyers for the Cosbys attempted to quash the deposition subpoena. In a ruling late on Sunday, a judge said that Monday’s deposition can take place.
A federal judge ruled on Friday that Camille Cosby’s deposition must proceed on Monday. The Cosbys have a home in Shelburne Falls, about an hour’s drive to Springfield, where the lawsuit was filed. The couple have been married for 52 years.
Update: A judge late on Sunday denied the request by Camille Cosby’s lawyers to postpone her deposition. The judge ruled that the deposition, scheduled for Monday, can proceed. A lawyer for the women argued that because Camille Cosby has been the TV star’s wife and business manager, she could have useful information.
The plaintiffs in the Massachusetts defamation case are among about 50 women who have accused Cosby of sexual misconduct.
In December, Cosby, 78, was charged in Pennsylvania with drugging and sexually assaulting a former Temple University employee at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004. Cosby has pleaded not guilty. This month, a judge denied a motion by Cosby’s lawyers to dismiss the charges. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 8 March.