A judge says she will not dismiss model Janice Dickinson's defamation lawsuit against Bill Cosby.

Dickinson sued Cosby for defamation last year after his legal team denied her claim that the comedian drugged and raped her in Lake Tahoe in 1982.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Debre Katz Weintraub ruled that the denial that branded Dickinson a liar is a fact that can be determined at a trial.

Cosby's lawyers tried to dismiss the suit, arguing Dickinson's story had changed over the years. They will have several other opportunities to challenge the case before it goes to trial.

Dickinson says she tried to include the story in a 2002 memoir, but her publisher refused.

Her lawsuit says the denial by Cosby's lawyers caused her to feel victimised again.