Jury finds Bill Cosby liable in sexual battery case
Quote:
A Los Angeles jury found embattled comedian Bill Cosby liable in a civil case brought by Judy Huth, a woman who claimed he sexually assaulted her as a teenager in the 1970s.
The jury, comprised of eight women and four men, awarded Huth $500,000 in damages. No punitive compensation was awarded.
Huth first filed the case in 2014, claiming sexual battery and both intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress. The original filing stated that the incident happened in 1974 when Huth was 15 years old, but the timeline was later revised to 1975, when Huth was 16.
Through his lawyers, Cosby, 84, has denied all allegations of sexual misconduct.
In her complaint, Huth told of meeting Cosby at a park where he was filming a movie. After befriending Huth and a friend, Cosby allegedly invited them to join him at his tennis club. From there, Huth alleged, the comedian invited them to a house where he served the young women multiple alcoholic drinks and then took them to the Playboy Mansion.
Huth alleged that though Cosby knew her age and that of her friend, he directed the teens "that if any of the Playboy bunnies asked their age, they should say they were 19."
Huth further claimed that Cosby took her to a bedroom in the mansion where he sexually molested her.
Huth was all smiles when she briefly spoke to reporters outside a Santa Monica courthouse.
"I was elated," she said of the verdict. "It has been so many years, so many tears."
Cosby's spokesman and attorney were loudly jeered by onlookers as they gave statements to the media.
"What happened today wasn't a victory, because they didn't get the punitive damages," said Cosby's spokesperson Andrew Wyatt, insisting that Cosby is happy with the verdict.
Cosby was not present for the trial or the verdict, and his team plans to file an appeal.
Bill Cosby Celebrates Light Penalty for Sexually Assaulting a TeenagerQuote:
Despite the civil jury ruling in Huth’s favor, a representative for Cosby reportedly told TMZ that Cosby had celebrated the outcome of the case, saying “What? That’s all? Booyah!” when learning of the verdict over the phone—the 84-year-old had apparently expected the damages to be somewhere in the millions.
Throughout the trial, Cosby’s legal team attacked Huth’s credibility because of a change in the timeline of her allegations:
Even if Cosby did, in fact, celebrate the $500,000 in damages as a win, for all intents and purposes, he’s now once again a legally recognized sexual assailant.
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Last edited by ASPartOfMe on 22 Jun 2022, 6:12 pm, edited 2 times in total.