Bill Cosby dealt legal blow in sexual assault suit
LOS ANGELES -- The California Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to hear Bill Cosby's legal challenge to a lawsuit filed by one of his accusers, CBS Los Angeles reports.
Cosby, 78, was petitioning a review of the lawsuit brought by Judy Huth, who claims Cosby sexually assaulted her in 1974 at the Playboy Mansion when she was 15 years old.
More than two-dozen women have accused the comedian of drugging and sexually assaulting them. Cosby has denied it.
Cosby tried to block Huff's case from moving forward, citing "procedural irregularities." But on Wednesday, the High Court denied Cosby's petition seeking the review.
The ruling paves the way for Cosby to be deposed in the case - something Gloria Allred, Huth's attorney, says she plans to do within 30 days.
"We believe we have a right to take his deposition in this civil lawsuit. We are going to tomorrow provide him with dates in August when we are available to do that," Allred said. "We are willing to even go to Massachusetts where allegedly he resides and take it."
CBS News legal analyst Rikki Klieman said that questions about a statue of limitations may come into play here. Cosby's case is now 41 years old. For now, the case is going forward. Klieman told "CBS This Morning" that Cosby could decide to settle the case, but Allred and her client can decide not to settle.
Cosby admitted in 2005 that he got quaaludes with the intent of giving them to young women he wanted to have sex with, and that he gave the sedative to at least one woman and "other people," according to documents obtained in early July by The Associated Press.
That woman and a second woman testified in the same case that they knowingly took quaaludes from him, according to the unsealed documents.