Now that the case has been cleared to move forward, the judge immediately set the preliminary court hearing date on May 24, Newsweek has learned.
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And in Los Angeles, a judge ruled that a sexual battery lawsuit filed by a woman who accuses Cosby of sexually abusing her at the Playboy Mansion when she was underage can proceed.
Actor Bill Cosby speaks at the National Action Network’s 20th annual Keepers of the Dream Awards gala in New York April 6, 2011.
On Monday, a Pennsylvania appeals court rejected Cosby’s attempt to throw out his criminal case because of what he called a decade-old deal not to prosecute him.
In that case, former Temple University employee Andrea Constand alleges Cosby drugged and molested her at his Montgomery County home in 2004.
The hearing, which will be the first substantive evidentiary hearing in the case, was scheduled after a Pennsylvania appellate court on Monday rejected Cosby’s bid to have the charges dismissed.
At least nine women – eight of them in MA – are now suing Cosby for defamation, claiming they were smeared by his public assertions that they fabricated their stories.
“In the court’s view if Mr. Cosby did what Ms. Huth alleges, then that conduct would be intentional, and therefore not negligent”, Allred said, about the court’s ruling. The charges were lodged against Cosby on December 30, before the 12-year statute of limitations to file charges expired.
A Manhattan federal judge ripped into beleaguered comedian Bill Cosby’s request for a New York Magazine’s reporter’s notes, calling it a “fishing expedition” and “wildly inconsistent” with the law.
More than 50 women have publicly accused the star best knownfor his role as the father in the 1980’s television hit TheCosby Show’ of sexually assaulting them, often after plying themwith alcohol or drugs in instances dating back decades. The State Superior Court concurred with Steele.
A preliminary hearing can now go forward.
“It seems pretty far-reaching for Cosby to say, ‘I need your notes, ‘” said Delsack.
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In court, Searcy contended Cosby was trying to determine whether there were inconsistencies in the women’s accounts in order to build a defamation defense.
