Bill Cosby was just now, in June 2022, found liable for having assaulted Judy Huth, in 1975, when she was a teenager. However, the Santa Monica, California, jury awarded Huth only $500,000. Huth, represented by her attorney Gloria Allred, filed the civil lawsuit in 2014. Invoking his fifth amendment right, Cosby did not testify. He did not even attend the trial, instead his video deposition was presented in the courtroom. “I want to thank all of the women who spoke out over the years, and refused to be silent in the face of what they believed to be injustice and sexual abuse by powerful men. The late United States Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg once said, ‘Real change, enduring change, happens one step at a time.’ 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, and that he should be held accountable for what he did to her,” Allred said immediately following the verdict.
Cosby’s spokesperson in a statement to Variety said that the actor was awarded “an astonishing victory,” pointing out that while Huth was awarded half a million dollars, the jury voted 9-3 against awarding Huth punitive damages. “If the jurors had awarded punitive damages to Judy Huth it would have been in the range of $10 million-plus dollars, which would have been a devastating loss to our legal efforts and the Cosby family.” The spokesperson also said that within a few weeks, Cosby’s attorney will be in court to appeal the verdict, “which means that Ms. Huth will never receive a payday from Mr. Cosby and her estimated mounting legal bills of 3 million-plus with Allred and her associates, will be outstanding for many years to come.”
Allred, whose career has focused on representing survivors of sexual harassment and assault, responded to the statement, “Mr. Cosby’s spokesperson appears to be trying to snatch victory from the jaws of Mr. Cosby’s significant defeat. Ms. Huth has no legal bills for fees with my law firm.” She said that the $3 million dollar legal bill that was cited, “appears to be a figment of his imagination.” “ In the alternative, it may be that the $3 million dollar amount is what Mr. Cosby had to spend to hire countless lawyers over the years in his unsuccessful effort to defend himself against Ms. Huth’s lawsuit.”
What was Cosby’s response to learning of the verdict?
“What? That’s all? Booyah!”
The New York Times reported that Huth’s was the first civil case accusing Mr. Cosby of sexual assault to reach trial. He had been sued by other women, most on the basis of defamation for dismissing their allegations and eleven of the civil cases were settled. Ten of the eleven were paid by Cosby’s former insurance company, although he objected. Huth’s case had been delayed while Cosby faced criminal charges in Pennsylvania for drugging and assaulting a former Temple University employee. There is one remaining case, still in its early stages, filed in civil court last year by actor Lili Bernard, who accused him of drugging and assaulting her at an Atlantic City hotel in 1990, when she was 26. Unsurprisingly, Cosby denies her account.
See the original articles here: Bill Cosby verdict: Jury orders comedian to pay $500,000 - Los Angeles Times; Bill Cosby's Team Says He Will Appeal Judy Huth Verdict - Variety; 'What? That's All?': Bill Cosby Rejoices After Verdict In Sexual Abuse Civil Case
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