By Karen Abbott, Rocky Mountain News
November 18, 2004

Katelyn Faber will give sworn testimony in February to lawyers for Kobe Bryant, whom she has accused of raping her, under a schedule adopted Wednesday in U.S. District Court.

Lin Wood of Atlanta, Faber's attorney, said the two sides in her federal civil suit against the NBA basketball star agreed that the defense will take her sworn deposition, in which she will answer questions from Bryant's lawyers, on Feb. 1.

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Wood said a date for Faber's legal team to question Bryant has not yet been set, although lawyers on the two sides were trying for a date early in December.

Wood spoke after the first courtroom action in the civil suit that Faber filed in August.

Colorado U.S. District Judge Richard Matsch, who is presiding over the case, ordered the lawyers to his courtroom Wednesday for a scheduling conference.

Seven lawyers attended - four for Bryant, three for Faber - but neither Bryant nor Faber was present.

The judge approved and signed a proposed schedule for depositions and other deadlines for pretrial work in the case. But court staffers said the schedule had not been processed Wednesday afternoon and would not be made public until today.

No trial date was set, Wood said.

Matsch told the lawyers he had noticed that both sides planned to present "many expert witnesses on a number of different subjects."

He said he also had noticed that their scheduling plan included "an awful lot of anticipated depositions."

Wood said Faber's legal team now plans to depose 25 people and perhaps will add 10 more later.

Bryant's lawyers, meanwhile, have submitted a list of 125 potential witnesses "who likely have knowledge of relevant information" in the case.

Bryant attorney Pamela Mackey said the list was so long because the case had been prepared for a criminal trial that never occurred.

The criminal rape case against Bryant, filed in state court in Eagle County, was dismissed in September after Faber announced during jury selection that she would not proceed as a witness.

Faber contends that Bryant raped her in summer 2003 at a mountain resort where he was a guest and she was an employee.

Bryant has admitted having sex with the woman but has insisted it was consensual.

In other discussion of pretrial business and the required exchange of evidence, Wood said he would turn over to Bryant's lawyers within 30 days information about the nature and sources of Faber's claimed damages, but not monetary amounts.

Some federal judges turn such pretrial matters over to magistrate judges, but Matsch told the lawyers he won't do that.

"You'll have to deal with me," he said.

abbottk@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-5188

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