Bill Cosby WILL go to trial in civil lawsuit alleging he assaulted girl, 15, at Playboy Mansion

Bill Cosby will go to trial for a civil lawsuit alleging he sexually assaulted an underage girl at the Playboy Mansion in 1974, it has been reported less than two months after he was released from a Pennsylvania prison.

Judy Huth alleged in a lawsuit filed in 2014 that Cosby sexually assaulted her at the famed mansion when she was just 15 years old and he was 37, but legal proceedings related to the lawsuit moved slowly amid his criminal proceedings and conviction. 

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Craig Karlan lifted a stay stopping the case from moving along Friday and set the trial for a tentative date of April 18, 2022, the New York Daily News reported. Both parties will return to court as early as September 30.

‘You’re one of the oldest cases, if not the oldest case, on my calendar. It’s time to lift the stay,’ Karlan said Friday. 

Karlan’s decision came less than two months after Cosby was released from prison when his 2018 conviction for drugging and sexually assaulting another woman was overturned.

Gloria Allred, who represents Huth and other Cosby accusers, held a press conference after the hearing in which she said her team is looking ‘forward to continuing the battle for our very brave client,’ the Daily Beast reported.

‘We’re going to push forward and push hard because we want to get this case tried and we want to fight for justice for our client,’ Allred said.

Allred said she hoped to handle the questioning if a judge rules in September that Cosby must face a second deposition. His previous deposition in the case remains under seal, she said.

An LAPD spokesperson said the department has ‘nothing pending’ in the investigation into Huth’s claims, Daily Beast reported. 

The outlet noted that the District Attorney’s office declined to file criminal charges against Cosby in December 2014, claiming that the statute of limitations had lapsed. 

Allred said that, if the Los Angeles Police Department has closed its cases on Cosby, then he should be compelled to appear for a deposition, the Daily News reported.

‘We’re looking forward to fighting the good fight,’ Allred said.

Cosby’s attorneys have indicated they will try to block another deposition – as his team fears prosecutors could use to once again charge him in criminal court.

He would potentially invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination to not face another deposition in the civil lawsuit.

Cosby’s team released a statement on Friday indicating that they plan to ‘fully vindicate’ him, the Daily Beast reported.  

Jennifer Bonjean, who had argued Cosby’s conviction should be overturned before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, will lead his defense in the civil lawsuit.

Bonjean told reporters on Friday that ‘there’s a lot of risk that what happened in Pennsylvania could happen again’ – referring to the fact Cosby had only faced criminal charges in Pennsylvania after he was deposed in another lawsuit.

‘We have to consider those things, even if he would love to testify,’ Bonjean told the Daily News.

Allred blasted Cosby’s reported plan to avoid deposition as a bid ‘to delay justice for our client,’ the outlet reported.

Huth first met Cosby, 84, when she and a friend watched him on a film set, the lawsuit claims. 

Days later, Cosby allegedly plied her with alcohol and took her to the Playboy Mansion where he allegedly slipped his hands down her pants then forced her to perform a sex act on him, the lawsuit claims.

Cosby has denied Huth’s claims and his team has previously claimed both that she was not a minor and that he was not at the Playboy Mansion on the dates of the alleged incident. 

Huth, with Allred present, was previously interviewed by the LAPD’s special victims unit, the Daily News reported.