Bill Cosby Ordered To Give Deposition On 1974 Assault Claim

Bill Cosby has been ordered to give a sworn deposition in a lawsuit alleging that he sexually abused a 15-year-old girl at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles in 1974.

The order, entered by a Los Angeles Superior Court judge on Tuesday and made public on Wednesday evening, according to Reuters, states that Cosby will submit to questions under oath from the lawyer of his accuser, Judy Huth, on Oct. 9, and that she will answer questions from his attorneys on Oct. 15.

Cosby's lawyers had sought to compel Huth to give her deposition before the comedian, but the judge sided with Huth in requiring Cosby to go first.

"We are pleased that we will now be able to move ahead without further delay on Ms. Huth’s case and we look forward to taking Mr. Cosby’s deposition on Oct. 9," said Gloria Allred, who is representing Huth and several others of Cosby's accusers, LAist reported.

Cosby tried to get Huth's suit dismissed, claiming that her lawyers made technical errors in their filing. Cosby's lawyers filed a petition in June to have Huth's suit reviewed. The California Supreme Court denied the petition last month.

Huth says Cosby sexually assaulted her when she was attending a party at the Playboy Mansion in 1974. Huth, who was 15 years old at the time, said she met Cosby while he was filming in the area, according to LAist. She said Cosby invited her and her friend, who was 16, to his tennis club the following Saturday. When they arrived, Huth said Cosby gave them beer and then took them to a party at Hugh Hefner's Playboy Mansion, advising both of them to say they were 19. The suit states that at the party, Cosby took Huth into a room and had her sit next to him on a bed, then put his hands down her pants and used her hand to touch himself. Huth is seeking unspecified damages.

The statute of limitations does not apply in Huth's case, because according to California law, children who are victims of assault can still take legal action if they realize later in life how the assault harmed them.

"I hope he gets what's coming to him," Huth's angry father, Robert Huth, previously told the New York Daily News.

"I still don't know everything that happened, but I know he's a real lowlife," he said.