Bill Cosby sexually assaulted teenager in 1970s, jury finds

Tuesday's decision is the first civil ruling against the 84-year-old, who stands accused of assault by dozens of women

Eleven months after he was freed from prison, Cosby will again be the defendant in a sexual assault proceeding. Ms Huth, who is now 64, alleges that in 1975 when she was 16, he sexually assaulted her at the Playboy Mansion. AP

Andrew Wyatt, spokesman for Bill Cosby, arrives outside Santa Monica Courthouse in Los Angeles for the start of the civil trial brought by Judy Huth against the actor. AFP

Judy Huth at Santa Monica Courthouse in LA. Reuters

Defence lawyer Jennifer Bonjean with team members Haley Coolbaugh and Ashley Cohen. AFP

Ms Bonjean speaks to reporters. AFP

Judy Huth's lawyer Gloria Allred speaks to the media. Reuters

Ms Huth navigates the press outside the Santa Monica Courthouse. Reuters

Gloria Allred speaks to the media as she arrives for opening statements in the civil suit against Bill Cosby. Reuters

The suit, the latest in a raft of legal actions against Cosby, who was once one of the most popular performers on US television, alleges that the disgraced comedian sexually assaulted Ms Huth when she was a teenage girl almost five decades ago. AFP

Cosby was welcomed home after Pennsylvania's highest court overturned his sexual assault conviction and ordered him to be released from prison on June 30 last year. Reuters

Cosby's conviction was overturned in 2018. AP

Pennsylvania’s highest court has overturned comedian Cosby’s sex assault conviction in 2021, after they found an agreement with a previous prosecutor prevented him from being charged in the case. AP

Cosby with his wife, Camille in 2018. AP

Camille Cosby married the actor in 1964. AP

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Board of Governors expelled Cosby and director Roman Polanski from its membership. AP

Bill Cosby sexually assaulted a teenage girl at the Playboy Mansion in 1975, a jury in California has found.

The decision on Tuesday is the first civil ruling against the TV star, who has been accused of using his fame to prey on dozens of women over several decades.

Judy Huth, now aged 64, was awarded $500,000 in damages after the jury found Mr Cosby, 84, meet her on a film set when she was 16 years old and plied her with alcohol before molesting her.

Mr Cosby was jailed in Pennsylvania for drugging and molesting a woman in a separate criminal case in 2018, but was freed last year when his conviction was overturned on a technicality.

Over a two-week civil hearing, which Mr Cosby did not attend, lawyers said Ms Huth and her then-17-year-old friend Donna Samuelson, were taken by Mr Cosby to Hugh Hefner's mansion after meeting them on a set.

They were told, when alone with her, Mr Cosby began kissing Ms Huth and tried to put his hands inside her clothes. He then allegedly pulled down his trousers and forced her to perform a sex act on him.

Ms Huth had repressed memories of the assault for years, lawyer Nathan Goldberg said, but the memories resurfaced when other women began accusing him of assault.

“It was like a cork popped out of a bottle,” said Mr Goldberg at the start of the case. “Memories came rushing to the surface … she became overwhelmed by memories of Mr Cosby and what he had done.”

Judy Huth, second from right, with her lawyers after the announcement of the verdict. AP

She originally filed her lawsuit in December 2014, but the case was put on hold while various criminal investigations played out.

The civil trial was shown a videotaped deposition of Cosby taken in 2015 in which he denied the assault and insisted that he would never engage in sexual activity with an underage girl.

His lawyers made much of apparent discrepancies in Ms Huth's story, including that both teenagers spent up to 12 hours at the mansion after the alleged assault.

They also argued that Ms Huth originally claimed the attack happened in 1974 when she was 15, but later said it had happened the following year.

The case was never prosecuted criminally as the statute of limitations had passed by the time Ms Huth spoke to police.

An aerial view of Hugh Hefner's Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles, California, where the alleged assault took place. Getty Images

California law allows adults who say they were sexually abused as minors, but have only recently become aware of the damage, to bring civil cases years after the statute of limitations would normally have expired.

Mr Cosby was a big star on TV in the US and globally in the late 20th century, peaking as father Cliff Huxtable on “The Cosby Show” 1984 to 1992.

About 60 women have accused Mr Cosby of being a serial predator who plied victims, many of them aspiring actors and models at the time, with sedatives and alcohol over four decades.