A California jury decided Tuesday that Bill Cosby did sexually batter Judy Huth at the Playboy Mansion in 1975 when Huth would have been 16 years old and the actor 37.
As part of its decision, the jury awarded Huth $500,000 in damages.
The verdict followed a tense two-week trial. Jurors heard from Huth and two other women
Kim Burr and Margaret Shapiro — who all testified under oath that the former Cosby Show star forced himself on them when they were teenagers that same year.
Cosby, 84, did not attend the proceeding in Santa Monica, California, leaving his lawyer, Jennifer Bonjean, to attack the women’s credibility and suggest Huth had concocted a lie for money.
“Today our client, Judy Huth, won real change because she fought Bill Cosby one step at a time over seven and a half years,
and she proved with the jury’s verdict that Mr. Cosby did sexually assault her when she was a minor,
that he should be held accountable for what he did to her,” lawyer Gloria Allred said in a statement following the verdict.
We are proud of Ms. Huth and our victory against Bill Cosby.”
Fellow Cosby accusers cheered the outcome Tuesday, including two who attended the reading of the verdict.