Woman sues Bill Cosby, claiming underage abuse

LOS ANGELES - The Associated Press

Comedian Bill Cosby is projected onto a screen during his performance at the Maxwell C. King Center for the Performing Arts in Melbourne, Nov. 21. AP Photo

Bill Cosby was sued Dec. 2 by a Southern California woman who claims the comedian molested her in a bedroom of the Playboy Mansion around 1974 when she was 15 years old.

Judy Huth's sexual battery lawsuit does not specify how much she is seeking from Cosby, who has in recent weeks faced renewed accusations that he drugged and sexually assaulted more than a dozen women over many years.

Huth's lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, however, is the first time that a woman has claimed she was underage when she was abused, and it is the first lawsuit Cosby has faced claiming sexual abuse since 2005.

Huth's lawsuit states that she and a 16-year-old friend first met Cosby at a Los Angeles-area film shoot and the comedian gave the girls drinks a week later at a tennis club.

The lawsuit states that Cosby took them to the Playboy Mansion after several drinks, and told the teenagers to lie and say they were 19 years old if asked. Her lawsuit states Cosby forced her to perform a sex act on him with his hand.

An email message sent to Cosby's attorney Martin Singer was not immediately returned. Singer has denied previous accusations or said the women raising the claims in interviews had been discredited.

Singer's statement does not apply to a lawsuit brought in 2005 by Andrea Constand, who claimed Cosby drugged and molested her at his suburban Philadelphia mansion in 2004. Constand, who worked for the women's basketball team at Temple University, and Cosby settled the case before trial.

Cosby, a Temple alumni, resigned from the university's board of trustees on Dec. 1. He had been the school's public face, appearing in advertisements, fundraising campaigns and delivering commencement speeches.

The accusations have put a significant dent in Cosby's recent comeback efforts, forcing the cancellation of shows on his comedy tour and prompting Netflix and NBC to shelve projects featuring the comedian.

Cosby, 77, has never been criminally charged stemming from any of the sex-abuse allegations, many of which date back to the 1970s and 1980s.

Huth claims she suffered severe emotional distress and that she discovered its impact on her within the past three years, which allows her to file the lawsuit under California law.

"This traumatic incident, at such a tender age, has caused psychological damage and mental anguish for (Huth) that has caused significant problems throughout her life," the lawsuit states.