NEW YORK • Comedian Bill Cosby will be questioned under oath in October in a second case involving accusations that he sexually assaulted a young woman, a judge said on Wednesday.

The deposition of Cosby, 78, in the case involving Ms Judy Huth, a California woman who said she was molested by the entertainer at the Playboy Mansion in 1974, when she was 15, was allowed to go forward last month, when the California Supreme Court denied Cosby's petition for review.

On Wednesday, the judge said Cosby's deposition would take place on Oct 9 and Ms Huth's on Oct 15. Now in her 50s, she gained somewhat of a tactical advantage from the judge's decision compelling Cosby to go first.

Her case is one of the few complaints against him that can proceed in civil court because, she says, the alleged abuse happened when she was a minor. The statute of limitations in California is extended for adults who claim they were victims of sexual abuse as children, said her lawyer, Ms Gloria Allred.

Ms Huth has claimed that Cosby sexually abused her and made her perform a sex act on him without her consent.

She has alleged that 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 to the Playboy Mansion.

Ms Monique Pressley, one of the star's lawyers, could not immediately be reached for comment. Mr Andrew Wyatt, a spokesman for Cosby, declined to comment.

More than two dozen women, including Ms Huth, have accused Cosby of assault.

He has consistently denied the accusations and has not been charged with a crime.

In an earlier deposition involving another woman, Ms Andrea Constand, taken in 2005 and 2006, the actor acknowledged that he gave drugs to women he wanted to have sex with.

He has portrayed both the drug-taking and the sex as consensual.

The 2005-2006 deposition became public this year.

The court case involving Ms Constand was settled in 2006, with the star paying an undisclosed settlement.

In addition to the civil case in California, Cosby also faces two defamation cases in Massachusetts and California. NEW YORK TIMES, REUTERS