Judge Orders Bill Cosby To Give Sworn Deposition In Lawsuit

Cosby will submit to questions under oath from the lawyer of his accuser, Judy Huth.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

LOS ANGELES, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Bill Cosby has been ordered to give a sworn deposition in a lawsuit brought by a woman accusing the comedian of plying her with alcohol and sexually abusing her at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles when she was 15 years old.

It marks the first time Cosby, 78, has been directed to testify under oath in response to a complaint of sexual misconduct against him since a deposition he gave in a separate Pennsylvania case he settled out of court nine years ago.

The latest order, made public on Wednesday, a day after a Los Angeles Superior Court judge entered it, requires Cosby to submit under oath to questions from the lawyer of his Los Angeles accuser, Judy Huth, on Oct. 9. Now in her 50s, Huth must likewise answer questions from his attorneys on Oct. 15.

Huth gained somewhat of a tactical advantage from the judge's decision compelling Cosby to go first.

The precise times and places were not revealed, but Huth's lawyer, Gloria Allred, has said she expects to depose Cosby in Massachusetts, where he resides.

The way for the depositions, a key part of the discovery process in civil litigation, was cleared when the California Supreme Court last month denied Cosby's petition to review the case, dealing a final blow to his efforts to fend off Huth's lawsuit.

Her complaint, brought in December 2014, charged that Cosby sexually abused her by putting his hand down her pants and then "taking her hand in his hand and performing a sex act on himself without her consent."

Huth alleged the encounter occurred days after she and a female friend met Cosby at a park where he was filming a movie. According to her account, Cosby invited the girls the following weekend to his tennis club, where they all had drinks together before he led them on to the Playboy Mansion.

Cosby's attorney Martin Singer has called Huth's allegations false and "defamatory."

Huth is one of more than 40 women who have come forward in the past year to say that they were raped or molested by Cosby after he gave them alcohol or drugs in incidents dating back decades.

In 2006 Cosby reached a confidential settlement for an undisclosed sum with a former Temple University employee, Andrea Constand, who accused him of sexual assault. Parts of the deposition he gave in that case were made public last month.

Huth's complaint is one of at least four pending civil suits against Cosby stemming from such accusations.

However, Allred has said Huth's is the only one seeking damages for the alleged misconduct itself, citing repressed psychological injuries that she claims were only discovered in the last three years, and therefore are allowed under the statute of limitations.

The other plaintiffs are suing for defamation instead.

Cosby has never been criminally charged. He and his lawyers acknowledge marital infidelity on his part but have consistently denied allegations of criminal wrongdoing. (Editing by Sandra Maler, Eric Walsh and Ken Wills)

Source: The Huffington Post

Cosby Accusers Speak Out In Powerful NYMag Photo Series

The magazine interviewed 35 of Cosby's 46 accusers.

"Another Cosby Victim Comes Forward"
"Three More Women Accuse Bill Cosby Of Rape"
"Cosby's Long List Of Accusers"

Odds are, you've spent the past several months reading headlines like these over and over again. Bill Cosby, once beloved as a comedy icon and cultural patriarch, has been publicly accused of sexual assault by at least 46 different women, many of whom were teenagers at the time of the alleged attacks. Despite the mounting evidence against him, Cosby denies he ever did anything wrong. 

 New York Magazine interviewed 35 of these women. The result of these interviews is apowerful series of photos and videos, each one detailing the abuse the women describe suffering at the hands of the embattled comedian, as well as the reactions they faced once they came forward.

"When I see a Jell-O pudding, it comes flooding back," said Sammie Mays, a writer who says Cosby attacked her in 1986 at a television convention. "Bill Cosby, that encounter, that one time, played a major factor in the direction my life took, toward the dark side."

Former supermodel Janice Dickinson and journalist Joan Tarshis are also among the subjectsof the visual series.

The women have assembled in what Tarshis calls "a sorrowful sisterhood," each using the others' claims as proof she should stand by her own. 

  

Below are photos of some of the women involved. Check out NYMag's  full story here. 

Source: The Huffington Post

Bill Cosby Deposition Reveals Calculated Pursuit of Young Women, Using Fame, Drugs and Deceit

Bill Cosby in 2014. CreditEvan Vucci/Associated Press

He was not above seducing a young model by showing interest in her father’s cancer. He promised other women his mentorship and career advice before pushing them for sex acts. And he tried to use financial sleight of hand to keep his wife from finding out about his serial philandering.
Bill Cosby admitted to all of this and more over four days of intense questioning 10 years ago at a Philadelphia hotel, where he defended himself in a deposition for a lawsuit filed by a young woman who accused him of drugging and molesting her.

Read more at New York Times

Bill Cosby Sexual Assault Allegations Prompt Exodus Of Allies

FILE - In this Nov. 11, 2014, file photo, entertainer and Navy veteran Bill Cosby speaks during a Veterans Day ceremony, at The All Wars Memorial to Colored Soldiers and Sailors in Philadelphia. In an amended complaint filed Monday, Jan. 5, 2015, in U.S. District Court in Springfield, Mass., two women accusing Bill Cosby of sexual offenses decades ago joined a defamation lawsuit against Cosby. The lawsuit originally was filed in December 2014 by Tamara Green, who said Cosby drugged and assaulte | ASSOCIATED PRESS

The sexual assault allegations against Bill Cosby had already severely damaged his career even before The Associated Press revealed this week that he admitted under oath in 2005 to obtaining quaaludes to give to young women he wanted to have sex with. But now even the hangers-on are walking away.

A look at the efforts to erase Cosby, and who's sticking with him:

___

MEDAL OF FREEDOM

Promoting Awareness Victim Empowerment, a group supporting sexual assault victims, launched a campaign Wednesday to revoke Bill Cosby's Presidential Medal of Freedom.

As of midday Saturday, more than 5,500 people had signed the petition posted on the White House's "We the People" website. If the petition gets 100,000 signatures by Aug. 7, the White House will review it and respond.

President George W. Bush presented the nation's highest civilian honor to Cosby in 2002, citing his revolutionary portrayal of blacks on television and his interest and dedication to education.

"Bill Cosby's name does not belong among this distinguished list," the group said.

___

OHIO COLLEGE

Central State University, a historically black college in Wilberforce, Ohio, says it has covered up Bill Cosby's name on a campus sign in front of a building named for him.

Edwina Blackwell Clark, a spokeswoman for Central State University in Wilberforce, tells the Dayton Daily News (http://bit.ly/1M0jk9Y ) that the sign in front of the Camille O. and William H Cosby Mass Communications Center no longer displays Cosby's name.

The university said earlier it was considering changing the name of the building. A final decision could be made this fall.

___

WALT DISNEY WORLD

Walt Disney World removed a statue of Cosby from its Hollywood Studios theme park in Florida after it closed Tuesday night, a spokeswoman said.

The statute had been at Disney's Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame Plaza.

___

HOMETOWN MURAL

The Mural Arts Program in Cosby's native Philadelphia is considering removing a work featuring the entertainer.

"Recent headlines" factored into its decision to move the mural much higher on a list of works up for decommissioning, a spokeswoman said Wednesday.

The mural celebrating Father's Day features Cosby in a trademark purple sweater between South African leader Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

It went up in 2008 but had already been considered for decommissioning because the wall where it's painted — under a train bridge — is in bad shape.

___

HOW INDUSTRY IS RESPONDING

NBC had already walked away from plans to make another Cosby sitcom, TV Land took reruns of the 1980s-era "The Cosby Show" off the air, and Netflix shelved plans for a standup special.

This week, the Bounce television network pulled reruns of the comedian's CBS sitcom "Cosby." The network, which is geared toward black viewers, had aired back-to-back episodes of "Cosby" each weekday.

And the smaller Centric cable network, which is affiliated with BET and aimed at black women, said it was dropping "The Cosby Show," a big chunk of its schedule.

However, Hulu is still offering every episode of "The Cosby Show," and Amazon continues to offer it streaming, along with DVDs.

___

WALK OF FAME STAR

Black civil rights leaders on Thursday called on the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce to remove Bill Cosby's star from the Hollywood Walk of Fame, saying it could otherwise become a "walk of shame."

"Cosby to black America is an icon, but once an icon figure betrays the trust of the community, we have to withdraw our support and condemn their actions," said Najee Ali, who was among those calling for the star's removal "If they don't remove that star, we can call it the walk of shame."

The chamber said it had no plans to remove Cosby's star, and has never removed one before.

"Once a star has been added to the Walk, it is considered a part of the historic fabric of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Because of this, we have never removed a star from the Walk," chamber president Leron Gubler said in a statement.

___

SMITHSONIAN

The Smithsonian Institution is standing behind a museum exhibition that relies in part on the art collection of Bill Cosby and his wife.

The Smithsonian's National Museum of African Art opened the exhibition of African and African-American artwork in November.

The museum said Tuesday that it does not condone Cosby's behavior but that the exhibit is about the artworks and the artists, not about the owners of the collections.

___

BLACK CONSERVATIVES

Project 21, a black conservative leadership network, on Friday criticized the federal judge who unsealed portions of Bill Cosby's deposition.

The judge had said he unsealed the 2005 documents because local court rules favor transparency and because Cosby's claims of embarrassment were insufficient legal grounds to keep them sealed.

He also said Cosby "voluntarily narrowed (his) zone of privacy" when he used the media "soap box" to comment on other people's behavior.

But Cosby's public statements about parenthood, crime and other issues shouldn't have played a part in the decision, said Project 21, sponsored by the Washington-based National Center for Public Policy Research.

The documents should be sealed or unsealed based solely on "legal reasons, not due to Cosby's beliefs," the group said.

Source: The Huffington Post

Bill Cosby's Admission Could Aid Women's Cases, Lawyers Say

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Bill Cosby's accusers see his admission of obtaining quaaludes to give young women before sex as vindication of their claims that he drugged and sexually assaulted them.

 But a former television co-star and a prominent Cosby defender say they're reserving judgment because the 2005 deposition testimony unsealed Monday doesn't show he did anything wrong.

Cosby admitted that he gave quaaludes, a now-banned sedative, to a 19-year-old woman before they had sex in Las Vegas in the 1970s. He also admitted giving the powerful drug to unnamed others.

His lawyer interfered before he could answer deposition questions in 2005 about how many women were given drugs and whether they knew about it.

"I never thought I would be validated or vindicated in this," said Joan Tarshis, of Woodstock, New York, who accused Cosby of drugging and attacking her when she was breaking into comedy writing in 1969. "I mean, it's turned my life around 180 because now all the people that haven't believed me or us have come out, most of them, and said, 'We were wrong.'"

The Associated Press had gone to court to compel the release of a deposition in a 2005 sexual abuse lawsuit filed by former Temple University basketball team employee Andrea Constand — the first of a cascade of lawsuits against Cosby that have severely damaged his image as doting TV dad Dr. Cliff Huxtable on "The Cosby Show."

 His lawyers objected to the release of the material, arguing it would embarrass him. Ultimately, a judge seized on Cosby's public moralizing on issues like family life, education and crime as he unsealed portions of the deposition.

 On ABC's "The View" on Tuesday, Whoopi Goldberg said she was still reserving judgment on Cosby, reiterating the stance she's held since the allegations against him resurfaced last winter.

 Cosby's official Twitter account thanked her back then for her support.

 "You are still innocent until proven guilty," Goldberg said Tuesday. Cosby, she said, "has not been proven a rapist."

 "The View" co-host Raven-Symone, who starred on Cosby's 1980s sitcom as a child, said she doesn't like talking about the allegations because he helped launch her career.

"You need the proof and then I'll be able to give my judgment here or there," she said.

 The Bounce TV network, which is geared toward black viewers, didn't wait. It said Tuesday that it was pulling its reruns of the 1990s-era CBS sitcom "Cosby" from the air immediately.

More than two dozen women have accused Cosby, 77, of sexual misconduct dating back more than four decades. He has never been charged with a crime, and the statute of limitations on most of the accusations has expired. 

Cosby has not commented on the unsealed documents.

 His publicist, David Brokaw, said Tuesday that a statement ABC News attributed to Cosby's camp "was not authorized by a Cosby representative."

 Cosby's lawyers in the Philadelphia case haven't returned messages seeking comment.

They insisted during the deposition that two of his accusers knew they were taking quaaludes from him, according to the documents.

Nevertheless, attorneys for some of the women suing Cosby seized on the testimony as powerful corroboration of their accusations.

"The women have been saying they've been drugged and abused, and these documents appear to support the allegations," said lawyer Joe Cammarata, who represents Therese Serignese, who met Cosby in Las Vegas and said she was sexually assaulted backstage. She is one of three women now suing him for defamation.

 A former prosecutor who declined to bring charges in the Constand case said Tuesday that Cosby's admission about giving quaaludes to women he wanted sex with didn't amount to evidence of a crime.

 Cosby, giving sworn testimony in the lawsuit accusing him of sexually assaulting Constand at his home near Philadelphia in 2004, said he had obtained seven quaalude prescriptions in the 1970s. Constand's lawyer asked if he had kept the sedatives through the 1990s — after they were banned — but was frustrated by objections from Cosby's attorney.

 Cosby later said he gave Constand, who was about 30 and had gone to him for career advice, three half-pills of Benadryl, though her lawyer, Dolores M. Troiani, voices doubt in the documents that was the drug involved.

 Constand thought he was giving her an herbal remedy for stress, she said in her lawsuit. She recalls having him touch her breasts and put her hand on his penis, and she woke up to find her clothes askew, according to her lawsuit. Cosby called any sexual contact consensual, according to Troiani's summary of his deposition testimony.

 Former suburban Philadelphia prosecutor Bruce Castor declined a decade ago to bring charges against Cosby. Castor, who is running again for district attorney in suburban Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, said that if elected he would review the unsealed court documents to see if there's evidence Cosby perjured himself.

 Cosby had fought the AP's efforts to unseal the testimony, with his lawyer arguing that the deposition could reveal details of Cosby's marriage, sex life and prescription drug use.

 "I didn't used to read the comments underneath articles that were written about this, but yesterday, I read the comments about your story, which was reprinted on The Huffington Post," Tarshis said. "Ninety-nine percent of them were positive. And it was really great because the last time they said, 'Oh, these girls are just in it for the money. They're in for notoriety.' Who wants notoriety as being raped by Bill Cosby?"

 ___

 Associated Press writers David Bauder in New York, Carolyn Thompson in Buffalo, New York, Kathy Matheson in Norristown, Pennsylvania, and Allen G. Breed in Durham, North Carolina, contributed to this report.

Source: The Huffington Post

Bill Cosby Admitted To Drugging Women In 2005 Deposition

Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Bill Cosby testified in 2005 that he got Quaaludes with the intent of giving them to young women he wanted to have sex with, and he admitted giving the sedative to at least one woman and "other people," according to documents obtained Monday by The Associated Press.

The AP had gone to court to compel the release of the documents; Cosby's lawyers had objected on the grounds that it would embarrass their client.

The 77-year-old comedian was testifying under oath in a lawsuit filed by a former Temple University employee. He testified he gave her three half-pills of Benadryl.

Cosby settled that sexual-abuse lawsuit for undisclosed terms in 2006. His lawyers in the Philadelphia case did not immediately return phone calls Monday.

 Cosby has been accused by more than two dozen women of sexual misconduct, including allegations by many that he drugged and raped them in incidents dating back more than four decades. Cosby, 77, has never been criminally charged, and most of the accusations are barred by statutes of limitations.

Cosby resigned in December from the board of trustees at Temple, where he was the popular face of the Philadelphia school in advertisements, fundraising campaigns and commencement speeches.

Source: The Huffington Post