Bill Cosby has lost a bid for a retrial in relation to a sexual assault civil lawsuit.
In June, a jury sided with Judy Huth, finding the disgraced comedian liable for sexually assaulting her when she was 16 at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles in 1975.
Huth was awarded $500,000 in damages for emotional distress but no punitive compensation.
Last week, lawyers for Cosby argued that Huth’s revision of some timeline details warranted a new trial, but on Tuesday, Judge Craig Karlan rejected the request.
“Cosby has failed to establish he received an unfair trial or that insufficient evidence existed to establish his liability for Plaintiff’s harm,” he stated, according to Deadline.
In response, Cosby’s representative Andrew Wyatt maintained “The Cosby Show” star’s innocence.
“The afterglow for Mr Cosby is that he maintains his innocence and vehemently denies all alleged allegations waged against him; but most importantly, Mr Cosby will move forward with his appeal, which will preclude any monies being awarded to Ms. Huth,” he told the outlet.
Meanwhile, Huth’s lawyer, Gloria Allred, welcomed the decision.
“The jury found that Bill Cosby was responsible for sexual battery of a child. Child sexual abuse is reprehensible. Mr Cosby should take responsibility, rather than continuing to fight the jury’s verdict which our law firm, fought for and won,” she added.
The ruling comes a year after Cosby, once known as “America’s dad,” was released from prison after judges at the Pennsylvania Supreme Court threw out his 2018 conviction for drugging and sexually assaulting Temple University staff member Andrea Constand at his home in 2004.
The 85-year-old had served more than two years of a three-to-10-year sentence.
