During a hearing on Monday, Nov. 2, Judge Debra Weintraub, a state judge for the Los Angeles Superior Court, ordered Bill Cosby to give a deposition in the defamation lawsuit Janice Dickinson filed against the comedian in May 2015. Weintraub also gave Cosby's former lawyer Marty Singer the same order. Per Deadline, both of their depositions must be made before Nov. 25. Bustle has reached out to Cosby and Singer for comment, but has not yet heard back.
In November 2014, Dickinson accused Cosby of drugging and raping her in 1982. Soon after, Singer, Cosby's lawyer at the time, responded to her claims and called them "outrageous defamatory lies." In a letter written to The Wrap, Singer also said, "Her new story claiming that she had been sexually assaulted is a defamatory fabrication." By "new story," Singer was referencing Dickinson's autobiography and a previous 2002 interview with the New York Observer wherein she alleged Cosby "blew her off" because she wouldn't have sex with him.
In May 2015, Dickinson revealed she was suing Cosby for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress due to the former Cosby Show star calling her a liar. In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Dickinson's lawyer Lisa Bloom said of her client: "She alleges she was drugged and raped by Bill Cosby, and then re-victimized again when he called her a liar."
The former America's Next Top Model judge added,
I was drugged and raped — drugged and raped — by Bill Cosby. And the fact that he and his spokespeople have called me a liar — referring to remarks that I’ve made — it’s just not correct. I want to fight this. I’m not being paid anything monetarily to do this, it’s just the right thing to do.
Bloom told Deadline after the hearing on Monday, "We are very pleased with the court’s careful and thoughtful ruling on the depositions of Mr. Cosby and Mr. Singer. It was the right ruling." Bloom also revealed she will be handling the depositions.
In response to the sexual assault allegations against Cosby, Singer gave the following comment in November 2014:
Over the last several weeks, decade-old, discredited allegations against Mr. Cosby have resurfaced. The fact that they are being repeated does not make them true. Mr. Cosby does not intend to dignify these allegations with any comment. He would like to thank all his fans for the outpouring of support and assure them that, at age 77, he is doing his best work. There will be no further statement from Mr. Cosby or any of his representatives.
Regarding the 2005 deposition obtained by the Associated Press in July 2015, showing Cosby admitting to obtaining Quaaludes to give to women with whom he wanted to have sex, his reps responded as follows:
The only reason Mr. Cosby settled [the case from which the deposition came] was because it would have been embarrassing in those days to put all those women on the stand and his family had no clue. That would have been very hurtful.
