- A jury last week found Bill Cosby liable for sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl in 1975.
- But legal experts are mixed on whether the verdict will have an impact on similar cases in the future.
- One expert suggested the decision could "embolden" other victims of long-ago sex crimes.
A California jury last week found Bill Cosby liable for sexually abusing a then-16-year-old girl at the Playboy Mansion in 1975. The verdict in the civil case offered a sense of vindication for many of Cosby's accusers, but legal experts are split on whether or not it will encourage other victims of years-old sex crimes to pursue justice through the courts.
The June trial was the first sexual assault case to move forward against Cosby, 84, since his early prison release in 2021. The comedian became embroiled by several sexual assault allegations beginning in 2014 and was convicted of aggravated indecent assault in 2018. Three years later, however, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania overturned his conviction, citing the violation of his due process rights.
Judy Huth first filed her civil lawsuit against Cosby in December 2014, alleging that the comedian molested her at the Playboy Mansion when she was a minor. Cosby and his legal team denied the allegations and called them a "fabrication." The jury sided with Huth, awarding her $500,000 in damages.
A 'remarkable' win in a decades-old case
Criminal defense attorney Joshua Ritter said Huth's win in a case dating back more than 45 years is "remarkable," particularly since the accuser's timeline shifted just before the case began.
"Her claims were stale and had proof problems, with inconsistent memories that were warped and faded from the passage of time," the former Los Angeles County prosecutor said in a statement shared with Insider.
In her original lawsuit, Huth claimed she and a friend met Cosby at a park in San Marino, California when she was 15-years-old in 1974. Over the next few days, Huth said she and her friend were invited to Cosby's tennis club and then the Playboy Mansion, where they were instructed by Cosby to lie about their age and given alcoholic beverages.
During a party at the Playboy Mansion, Huth, now 64, said Cosby forced her to put a hand down his pants and made her fondle him. Huth said he then exposed himself and "performed a sex act on himself."
Just weeks before the trial began, Huth's legal team changed the date of the allegations from 1974 to 1975, causing Cosby's lawyers to cry foul.
Throughout the trial, Huth's team presented two photos of Huth and Cosby from the day of the assault and called Huth's friend, Donna Samuelson, then 17 and now 64, to verify Huth's story. But her attorneys presented "very little other corroborating evidence," Ritter said, making Huth's triumph all the more impressive.
"For Bill Cosby, this defeat could spell trouble," Ritter said. "It could easily chum the waters and convince other potential victims to take their chances by filing a lawsuit against him." Eleven other civil cases against the comedian were settled while he was in prison.
Huth's case was ultimately allowed to move forward because of a 2020 change to California's statute of limitations law, which permits adults who claim they were victims of sexual abuse as minors to file civil claims against their alleged abusers, even after the statue of limitations for criminal charges has passed.
Huth prevailing in her case "against all odds" could "embolden" other victims of decades-old sex crimes to bring similar lawsuits where they can, Ritter said. But he noted that Huth's win doesn't necessarily portend similar levels of success for other would-be plaintiffs, particularly against lesser-known defendants. People are more inclined to believe sexual misconduct claims when they're made against someone "as reviled" as Cosby, Ritter said.
A 'tanked reputation' and no real change
Trial attorney Christa Ramey echoed Ritter's thoughts on Cosby's notoriety.
"Bill Cosby's reputation had already tanked before this verdict, and this won't change anything," Ramey said in comments shared with Insider. "He was America's dad at one time, he was special. Bill Cosby's reputation is destroyed because of what he did."
But Huth's winning verdict, she said, is unlikely to "open the floodgates" when it comes to encouraging other victims who want to bring similar sexual misconduct claims from long ago, given the unique circumstances surrounding Cosby.
"If this verdict leads any women to bring a claim from two or three decades ago, against Bill Cosby or any other public figure, it will only be a limited number of cases," she said.