New lawsuit brings Cosby sex abuse claims back into court setting
Published 9:20 am Wednesday, December 3, 2014
LOS ANGELES — A lawsuit by a woman who claims Bill Cosby molested her when she was 15 years old has moved allegations of sexual misconduct against the comedian from the court of public opinion into the courthouse.
Judy Huth’s lawsuit filed Tuesday in Los Angeles accuses Cosby of forcing her to perform a sex act on him in a bedroom of the Playboy Mansion around 1974. She is the latest woman to accuse the comedian of sex abuse, and is the first one since 2005 to file a lawsuit.
Cosby has been beset for weeks by allegations by more than a dozen women that he drugged and sexually assaulted them in incidents spanning several decades. The comedian has not been criminally charged and many of the claims are so old, they are barred by statutes of limitations.
Huth’s lawsuit, however, contends that she became aware of the serious effect the abuse had on her within the past three years. California law allows victims of sex abuse when they were minors to bring a claim after adulthood if they discover later in life that they suffered psychological injuries as a result of the abuse.
Cosby has not been criminally charged, but Netflix and NBC have scuttled projects featuring the comedian and several shows on his comedy tour have also been canceled.