A few days before a second pre-trial hearing in Bill Cosby's sexual-assault case, he was reminded of his many accusers pursuing him in civil court thanks to developments Friday.
In Massachusetts, a newly released transcript shows that Cosby's wife Camille refused to answer dozens of questions during a combative February deposition in connection with a defamation lawsuit filed by seven of her husband's accusers in federal court in Springfield, near where the Cosbys have a home.
In Los Angeles, Gloria Allred, who represents an accuser suing Cosby for sexual battery, said Friday she took a deposition from Hugh Hefner on Wednesday at the Playboy Mansion, but the contents of the testimony were sealed. Hefner gave the deposition in a case filed by Judy Huth, who alleges Cosby forced her to perform a sex act on him around 1974 at Hefner's mansion.
And on Monday in Los Angeles, yet another accuser, who also claims she was sexually assaulted by Cosby at the Playboy Mansion in 2008, sued Cosby and Hefner, asserting that Hefner was an enabler who knew what his friend Cosby was doing to women at the mansion or should have known it.
In Massachusetts, Camille Cosby testified that she had no knowledge that her husband allegedly gave women drugs and had sex with them, according to a transcript of her deposition released Friday.
Camille Cosby strongly resisted being deposed and her husband's legal team tried to stop it. But she was compelled by a federal judge anyway, although he confirmed her right to not answer any questions that violated her marital privilege.
The deposition took place over two days in Boston; the transcript released Friday covers only the first day.
It was clear in February that Camille Cosby's deposition had been strained, in part because the lawyers acknowledged it after the first day ended and a second day had to be scheduled.
She refused to answer many times and the judge had to be called to rule on whether she had to. The transcript shows the back-and-forth between her and her lawyers and the accusers' lawyer, Joe Cammarata.
She was subjected to intense questioning by Cammarata, who represents seven women who claim the comedian, through his lawyers, branded them as liars after they came forward in late 2014 with accusations that he drugged and/or raped them in episodes dating back decades.
Among other questions, Cammarata asked her whether her husband "acted with a lack of integrity" during their 52-year marriage. She also was asked if her husband used his position and power "to manipulate young women."
She refused to answer those questions after her lawyer cited marital privilege, the legal rule that communications between spouses are private.
Although discovery and depositions are continuing in the various civil suits against him, none of it involves Cosby himself yet. Legal motions involving him have been put on temporary hold until the resolution of the sole criminal case against him, in Montgomery County, Pa., outside Philadelphia, where the Cosbys also have a home.
On Tuesday, Cosby is scheduled to appear for a second pre-trial hearing on felony sexual assault charges stemming from an encounter at his home with ex-Temple University employee Andrea Constand in 2004. Constand said Cosby drugged and raped her; Cosby said the encounter was consensual.
Cosby's legal team is trying to get the criminal charges thrown out on the grounds that he was promised immunity in the case from a former district attorney. So far, his lawyers have failed to persuade the Pennsylvania judge.
Nearly 60 women have accused Cosby of forcing unwanted sexual contact on them in encounters dating back to the mid-1960s. Cosby has denied the allegations.
Contributing: The Associated Press
