A Verdict Is In: Jury Rules In Favor Of Bill Cosby's Accuser, Awards Judy Huth $500k
UPDATE — 6/21 (3:46 PM PST)
Jurors ruled in favor of Bill Cosby's accuser Judy Huth, who claims the comedian molested her when she was 16 at the Playboy Mansion back in 1975. The Los Angeles County jury awarded Huth, now 64, $500,000.
"First, we thank the jury for their verdict of compensatory damages that they have awarded our client, Ms. Huth. The verdict is $500,000. Second, we thank our client Judy Huth for her courage and many sacrifices to win justice in this case. We are honored to represent her," Gloria Allred, one of Huth's attorneys, told RadarOnline.com after the verdict.
"Third, I want to thank my partners Nathan Goldberg and John West for being exceptional litigators and trial lawyers in this case, and I want the world to know that I feel blessed that they have both been my law partners for so many decades. Fourth, 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,'" she continued.
"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 added. "We are proud of Ms. Huth and our victory against Bill Cosby."
Bill Cosby's sexual abuse trial has reached a verdict, RadarOnline.com has learned, after jurors had to start over their deliberations.
His accuser, Judy Huth, claims the actor, 84, allegedly sexually abused her when she was a teen.
"I was trying to deflect," she testified. "But he didn’t stop. I just closed my eyes … It was so fast. Maybe five minutes. Quick."
On Tuesday, jurors in Santa Monica, California, told Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Craig Karlan that they reached a decision.
Jurors found that Cosby intentionally caused harmful sexual contact with Huth, that he reasonably believed she was under 18, and that his conduct was driven by unnatural or abnormal sexual interest in a minor.
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Huth, who first sued Cosby in 2014 for sexual battery and two other claims, has stood by her allegations, despite pushback from him and his team.
Cosby opted not to testify, but his 2015 videotaped deposition was played before jurors.
The civil case came about because Huth was able to sue Cosby under California law that pushes the statute of limitations. She sued years after the alleged crime, arguing that she didn't realize the gravity of what happened until later.
"Mr. Cosby will fully be exonerated once the jurors hear the evidence as well as examine the many inconsistent accounts given by Ms. Huth," a representative for the defendant said, citing her changing timeline.
"You have to decide what's right," Huth's lawyer Nathan Goldberg fired back last week during closing arguments. "But please bear in mind that you have to hold Mr. Cosby wholly and completely accountable for the harm he did."
Following two days of deliberation, the jury was gearing up to share their verdict last Friday.
They had agreed on eight out of nine questions needed to reach their decision.
The only question left unanswered was if Cosby had acted with "malice, oppression or fraud" toward Huth.
The Huth vs. Cosby trial comes after his Pennsylvania criminal conviction was thrown out by an appeals court last year.
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