Camille Cosby, wife of embattled comedian Bill Cosby, won a partial victory Tuesday in a federal lawsuit in Springfield brought by seven of his alleged sexual assault victims when a judge agreed to delay her deposition in the case.

Lawyers for the seven women, who claim Bill Cosby sexually assaulted them decades ago and defamed them in the press when they went public with their allegations, were scheduled to depose Camille Cosby on Wednesday morning.

But Magistrate Judge David H. Hennessy granted Camille Cosby’s emergency motion to delay the deposition until her appeal of his Dec. 31 ruling ordering her to testify is resolved.

Hennessy wrote Tuesday that “a denial of Mrs. Cosby’s motion would amount to a denial of her right to appeal the Dec. 31, 2015, order. It would not serve (and in fact would offend) the ‘interest of justice’ for this court to deny the motion for a stay, and thereby effectively deny Mrs. Cosby any right to appeal.’’

The judge said the deposition will be rescheduled “as soon as practicable’’ if Cosby loses her appeal in US District Court in Springfield.

Lawyers for the Cosbys did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Joseph Cammarata, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said that “we’re confident that we’ll ultimately be able to take her deposition.’’

He declined to discuss the questions he may pose to Cosby, but in prior court filings, plaintiffs have said that other than Bill Cosby himself, there is likely no one who “has more knowledge of Mr. Cosby’s sexual proclivities and encounters (consensual and nonconsensual), as well as his use of Quaaludes and other sedatives.’’

Many of Cosby’s accusers allege that he drugged them before sexually assaulting them.

The Cosbys’ lawyers say Camille Cosby’s conversations with her husband are protected and that the effort to depose her is a “thinly veiled attempt to pressure [Bill Cosby] in the face of subjecting his wife to the shame and embarrassment of responding to questions about his alleged infidelities and sexual misconduct.’’

However, Hennessy ruled last week that a rule protecting marital conversation applies to trial testimony but not testimony in a pretrial deposition, court records show.

His ruling on Tuesday comes days after Bill Cosby was charged criminally with sexually assaulting a woman in Pennsylvania in 2004. Cosby has denied all allegations through his lawyers.

In the Springfield lawsuit, a hearing is scheduled Thursday on Cosby’s motions to seal pretrial discovery materials and compel the plaintiffs’ depositions.

The plaintiffs’ lawyers on Tuesday filed an opposition to the discovery motion.

Among the discovery items plaintiffs are seeking are any medical records dating to 1968 of treatment Bill Cosby may have received for “any sexual dysfunction, paraphilia, and/or fetish (such information bears upon Plaintiffs’ allegations that Defendant Cosby has serially sexually assaulted semi-conscious, drugged women),’’ the accusers’ filing said.

Cosby, in turn, is seeking any medical records pertaining to plaintiffs’ “examination, consultation or treatment for any physical or mental complaint, condition, or injury’’ and “[a]ll records concerning treatment of [Plaintiff] for alcohol or drug abuse,’’ court records show.

It is not clear whether Cosby or the seven women have received treatment for any of the conditions cited in legal filings.

The once-beloved comedian has also filed a countersuit against the plaintiffs, claiming they defamed him with false allegations.

Trial dates in the lawsuits, which were filed in Springfield in part because the Cosbys own a home in that federal jurisdiction in Shelburne Falls, have not been set.

Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @TAGlobe.