Scandal-plagued comedian Bill Cosby started off his Labor Day weekend by receiving some bad news on the legal front.
A judge has struck down a request from Cosby’s lawyers to obtain documents that might shed light on the release of his deposition from a 2005 sexual battery case, according to court documents obtained by TheWrap.
Cosby’s attorneys filed a motion for leave to take discovery in July, based on the theory that Andrea Constand, his accuser in the 2005 case, and her attorney Dolores Troiani “may have played” a part in the release of the deposition, which was obtained by and partially reported on by the New York Times. The comedian’s lawyers had contended that any alleged release of the deposition on their part would have violated a June 11 court order.
However, on Friday, Judge John R. Padova found otherwise, ruling that Troiani’s actions regarding the deposition are regulated by the 2006 settlement agreement between Cosby and Constand rather than the June order.
“[T]he essential limitations on what Ms. Troiani may do with regard to the Constand documents are set forth in the Constand agreement and not in our June 11, 2015 order,” Padova wrote in his order memorandum Friday. “Accordingly, Defendant may not probe the circumstances of that release through discovery in this miscellaneous proceeding, and we deny Defendant’s Motion for Leave to Take Discovery.”
On the plus side for Team Cosby, Padova shot down a motion filed by attorneys for Cosby accusers Tamara Green, Therese Serignese and Linda Traitz, asking that the comedian’s lawyers be sanctioned for requesting the discovery.
“While we do not question our authority to impose sanctions under certain limited circumstances, we decline to sanction defense counsel here for filing the Motion for Discovery, as we do no view that Motion as frivolous or believe that it was filed in bad faith or vexatiously,” Padova wrote.
Pamela Chelin contributed to this report.
