Bill Cosby Sued Over Alleged 1974 Sexual Molestation

By Edvard Pettersson

Photographer: Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Comedian Bill Cosby.

Bill Cosby, who for eight years portrayed a physician and family man on the hit TV series “The Cosby Show,” was sued by a woman who claims he sexually molested her 40 years ago at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles when she was 15 years old.
The lawsuit may be the first against the 77-year-old comedian and actor after a barrage of sexual-assault accusations in the past two months that have led to the cancellation of his one-man comedy shows, halted development of a TV project, and prompted him to resign from the board of trustees of Temple University.
His latest accuser, Judy Huth, said she and a 16-year-old female friend met him in 1974 when they walked up to a movie set in a park, according to a complaint filed yesterday in state court in Los Angeles. Cosby, who had asked the girls how old they were, invited them
to meet him at his tennis club the following Saturday, according to the complaint.
The girls were later invited by Cosby to his house, where they played billiards and, Huth alleges, she had to drink a beer every time he won a game. Later that day, Cosby took the girls to the Playboy Mansion, where he molested Huth by trying to put his hand down her pants and taking her hand in his and “performing a sex act on himself,” according to the complaint.

Photographer: Gerardo Mora/Getty Images

Actor Bill Cosby performs at the King Center for the Performing Arts in Melbourne, Florida.

John P. Schmitt and Martin Singer, lawyers representing Cosby, didn’t immediately respond to phone and e-mail messages after regular business hours yesterday seeking comment on the lawsuit.

Earnings Imperiled

Cosby, who spent decades cultivating a squeaky clean image and chiding others to behave, came under fire in October and November after multiple sexual assault allegations that imperil his future earnings from new projects, public speaking and endorsements that could total millions of dollars a year.
NBC said last month it was withdrawing from a sitcom in development with Cosby, while Netflix Inc. (NFLX) shelved a stand-up comedy special it planned to run the day after Thanksgiving.
Viacom Inc. (VIAB)’s TV Land will stop airing reruns of “The Cosby Show.”
Huth said in her complaint it was only in the past three years that she has become aware that her psychological injuries and illnesses were caused by the sexual abuse by Cosby. She seeks unspecified damages for sexual battery and for intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress.
Schmitt said in a Nov. 16 statement that “over the last several weeks, decade-old, discredited allegations against Mr. Cosby have resurfaced. The fact that they are being repeated does not make them true. Mr. Cosby does not intend to dignify these allegations with any comment.”
Schmitt said in a statement posted the next day on Cosby’s website that the earlier statement didn’t refer to a 2005 lawsuit by Andrea Constand, a former Temple employee, that was settled out of court. She had claimed to have located at least 10 other alleged victims of sexual assault by Cosby.
Among the women who have recently come forward are Barbara Bowman, who published a Washington Post op-ed repeating past accusations that Cosby raped her when she was a 17-year-old aspiring actress.
Another accuser, Joan Tarshis, spoke out on Nov. 16, writing on the entertainment site Hollywood Elsewhere about an alleged incident in 1969. Separately, model Janice Dickinson, told Entertainment Tonight she was sexually assaulted by Cosby in 1982.
The case is Huth v. Cosby, BC565560, California Superior Court, Los Angeles County.