Comedian Bill Cosby won a round in court Monday when a federal judge in Massachusetts said Cosby could delay providing evidence in a case in which seven women are accusing him of defamation.

Reuters reports that the judge “cited a risk Cosby might be forced to disclose facts prosecutors would use in a separate criminal case against him in Pennsylvania.” The criminal case involves allegations that Cosby sexually assaulted former basketball coach Andrea Constand in 2004.

“U.S. District Judge Mark Mastroianni concluded in a 13-page ruling that Cosby has a right to delay providing evidence to avoid ‘incriminating himself in the criminal case’ by disclosing anything that may ‘support a conviction,'” Reuters reports.

The report also notes: “The decision follows a similar order last week by a California state judge who delayed Cosby’s scheduled deposition and other evidence in a civil lawsuit accusing Cosby of sexually abusing a woman in 1974 when she was 15 years old.”