Bill Cosby’s wife underwent a two-and-a-hour inquisition under oath on Monday from lawyers for seven women who accused him of sexual assault and then sued him for defamation.
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The Camille Cosby deposition reportedly took place at the Springfield Marriott hotel in a conference room, which had been cordoned off by staff. Hotel staff went so far as to pull heavy drapes across the hallway so that even that even the door to the room was blocked from view.
But he says she was in a unique position to know a lot about Bill Cosby because she has been married to him for 52 years and has been his business manager.
She also asked the judge to not order her to sit for a deposition in the case because it would be an undue burden on her and invade her rights to privacy and claims her husband has made a decision to not drag her into his counter-suit to testify.
Camille Cosby has publicly stood by her husband despite the dozens of sexual-assault allegations against him. She continues the deposition next month.
Camille and Bill Cosby together in NY.
Fifty women have come forward with claims of sexual misconduct by Bill Cosby. Lawyers twice consulted with a magistrate judge, he said.
Her lawyers have been fighting the ruling ever since, but they lost an emergency motion for a delay on Sunday, ahead of her scheduled questioning, after insisting she “had no involvement with the facts or allegations underlying this case” and that the deposition was “an unnecessary media circus and personal security threat that serves no objective other than to harass and embarrass her”.
But an attorney for the seven women said that Camille Cosby could provide valuable, unprotected information in formal questioning.
Mrs Cosby was called to give evidence in a hotel in the north-eastern state where the star turned pariah has accused seven women of lying in alleging that he assaulted them – in order to damage his reputation and exact financial reward. On top of that, she’s contended that the law protects her conversations with her husband as being confidential under the MA marital disqualification rule. A federal judge ruled Friday that Camille Cosby must testify today. Cosby is due for a preliminary hearing in the case on March 8. Bill Cosby, 78, filed a countersuit on December 14, and his lawyers have repeatedly denied the women’s accusations.
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Cosby’s lawyers have said in court papers the deposition is “nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt to pressure (the) defendant in the face of subjecting his wife to the shame and embarrassment of responding to questions about his alleged infidelities and sexual misconduct”.
