Topline
A Los Angeles County jury on Tuesday ruled in favor of a woman who accused comedian Bill Cosby in a civil lawsuit of sexually assaulting her at the Playboy Mansion in 1975, according to multiple reports.
Bill Cosby walks through the Montgomery County Courthouse on April 26, 2018 in Norristown, … [+]
Key Facts
Cosby, 84, was ordered to pay $500,000 to Judy Huth, who was 16 years old in 1975.
The jury determined Cosby was aware that Huth was a minor, a fact that drove his sexual interest in her, according to the Associated Press.
Huth testified that she and a friend visited the mansion on Cosby’s invitation, with Cosby taking her into one of the mansion’s bedrooms and forcing her to perform a sex act.
Key Background
The ruling comes nearly a year after a sexual assault conviction against Cosby was overturned in Pennsylvania, allowing him to leave prison after serving three years of a three- to ten-year sentence. His release came on a technicality, after the state Supreme Court ruled that letting several women testify about sexual assault claims against Cosby at his 2018 criminal trial violated an earlier agreement the longtime comedian made with a prosecutor. The abuse claims against Cosby, many of which followed a similar narrative involving young women who said they were drugged and sexually assaulted by the comedian, largely surfaced in the mid-2010s and tarnished Cosby’s career, despite Cosby consistently claiming the accusations were false. Cosby was previously known as “America’s Dad” for his role as the family patriarch in the 1984-92 television series The Cosby Show, which was considered groundbreaking in fictional television for portraying a stable Black family.
Further Reading
Bill Cosby’s Prison Sentence Overturned (Forbes)
Civil jury finds Bill Cosby sexually abused teenager in 1975 (Associated Press)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicholasreimann/2022/06/21/jury-rules-bill-cosby-sexually-assaulted-teen-in-1975/