Bill Cosby liable for sex abuse in civil trial, must pay woman $500K

Bill Cosby was found liable for sexual abuse Tuesday and ordered to pay a California woman $500,000.

Judy Huth, now 64, filed a lawsuit in 2014 saying Cosby sexually assaulted her at the Playboy Mansion in 1975, when she was just 16. Huth also filed a police report, but cops didn’t pursue charges against Cosby.

After years of legal back-and-forth, the trial started earlier this month. In opening statements, Huth’s lawyers described how Cosby “pounced” on the teenager.

Bill Cosby appears at a 2018 hearing unrelated to Tuesday's case. (Matt Rourke/)

Cosby tried to put his hand down her pants, then exposed himself, forcing Huth to touch him sexually, attorney Nathan Goldberg said.

Though Cosby did not testify at the trial, he has publicly denied attacking Huth. He made similar statements in his deposition, which was recorded in 2015 and played for the jury.

Huth’s friend, Donna Samuelson, took photos of Cosby and Huth together at the Playboy Mansion on the day of the assault.

“Each of you knows in your heart that Mr. Cosby sexually assaulted Miss Huth,” Goldberg told the jurors.

Jury deliberations were briefly delayed after the jury foreperson was excused Friday, and the jury was forced to restart its debate. On Tuesday afternoon, the jury reported a deadlock but the judge told them to keep working, saying deliberations had only lasted eight hours over two days.

Cosby, 84, was released from prison last year on a technicality after he was convicted in 2018 of sexually assaulting Andrea Constand in Pennsylvania.

Constand was one of dozens of women who accused Cosby of sexual assault and harassment during his rise to fame as “America’s Dad,” but hers was a rare case where the statute of limitations hadn’t expired.

“I personally know women who this man drugged and raped while unconscious,” Time’s Up founder Amber Tamblyn said when Cosby was released. “Shame on the court and this decision.”

With News Wire Services