NORRISTOWN, PA - SEPTEMBER 24: Bill Cosby departs the Montgomery County Courthouse on the first day of sentencing in his sexual assault trial on September 24, 2018 in Norristown, Pennsylvania. In April, Cosby was found guilty on three counts of aggravated indecent assault for drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004. 60 women have accused the 80 year old entertainer of sexual assault. (Photo by Mark Makela/Getty Images)
Bill Cosby took another blow to his character after a jury found him liable in a civil sexual assault case. In her suit, Judy said that Bill sexually assaulted her in 1975 when she was 16. On Tuesday, the Los Angeles jury awarded her $500,000 in damages but no punitive compensation. One day later, Bill’s team now says they plan to appeal the decision, despite Judy’s “astonishing victory, per Variety.
“Yesterday, actor and comedian Bill Cosby was awarded an astonishing victory by jurors in a civil trial brought by Judy Huth,” Bill’s spokesperson Andrew Wyatt said in a statement. “The jurors decided to grant Judy Huth with a $500,000 verdict but voted 9-3 in favor of not awarding Ms. Huth any punitive damages.”
According to CNN, Judy filed in 2014 for sexual battery and intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress. Judy said she met Bill at a movie set in a park when she was a teenager. Bill allegedly befriended Judy and a friend. All three spent time together at a tennis club, then in a home where Bill allegedly served the underage girls alcoholic drinks.
After the previous two invitations, Bill took the girls to the Playboy Mansion. The whole time, Bill allegedly knew their ages but still instructed the girls to say 19 if asked their ages by the mansion bunnies. Once inside the mansion, Judy says Bill got her alone in a room, pulled down his sweatpants, and used her hands to masturbate himself.
Eight women and four men found Cosby liable for the child abuse crimes described by Judy. Still, Andrew insisted Judy would “never receive a payday.” Instead, Bill’s attorney Jennifer Bonjean will appeal the verdict real soon.
“Within a few weeks, Attorney Jennifer Bonjean will be in Judge Craig D. Karlan court to appeal the $500,000 verdict, which means that Ms. Huth will never receive a payday from Mr. Cosby and her estimated mounting legal bills ($3 million-plus dollars) with Allred, Maroko & Goldberg will be outstanding for many years to come,” the statement said. “If the jurors had awarded punitive damages to Judy Huth it would have been in the range of the $10 million-plus dollars, which would have been a devastating loss to our legal efforts and the Cosby family.”
But Judy’s lawyers fired back at the claims made in Andrew’s statement. Gloria Allred told Variety that Cosby’s team is making things up.
“Mr. Cosby’s spokesperson appears to be trying to snatch victory from the jaws of Mr.Cosby’s significant defeat,” Gloria said. “Ms. Huth has no legal bills for fees with my law firm. The $3 million legal bill that Mr. Wyatt cited appears to be a figment of his imagination. In the alternative, it may be that the $3 million amount is what Mr. Cosby had to spend to hire countless lawyers over the years in his unsuccessful effort to defend himself from Ms. Huth’s lawsuit.”
Per CNN, Judy’s civil case is the first of Cosby’s accusers to get a trial despite more than 50 women who’ve accused Bill since 2005.
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