Bill Cosby Will Return to Court for Civil Suit Alleging He Sexually Assaulted Teen Girl at the Playboy Mansion

Bill Cosby isn't finished with court. (Photo: Kena Betancur/AFP/Getty)

Bill Cosby is headed to court again – this time for a civil trial to face accusations of sexually assaulting a teenage girl at the Playboy Mansion in 1974.

On Tuesday, L.A. Superior Court Judge Craig Kaplan tentatively scheduled a preliminary start date of July 30, 2018, for the trial, PEOPLE confirms.

In her civil lawsuit, Judy Huth alleges Cosby molested her in a bedroom at the Playboy Mansion – Hugh Hefner’s famed Holmby Hills estate — when she was just 15 years old, court records state.

The statute of limitations has expired for a criminal case, but California law allows victims of underage sexual abuse to file a civil lawsuit decades after the alleged incident took place.

Cosby has already given a deposition in the case, which is sealed.

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The judge set the date for the civil trial so far in advance because prosecutors in Pennsylvania are planning on retrying the criminal sexual case against the comedian, accused of drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand, a former Temple University employee, at his Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, mansion in January 2004.

On June 17, a Pennsylvania judge declared a mistrial in the criminal case after the jury said it was “hopelessly deadlocked” for the second time.

Constand and Huth are among the 60 women who have accused Cosby of drugging and/or sexually assaulting them.

Huth’s lawyer, Gloria Allred, represents many of Cosby’s accusers.

Cosby and his lawyers have denied all the allegations.

Cosby Allegedly Told Complainant to Lie About Her Age

Filed in 2014, Huth’s lawsuit alleges Cosby committed sexual battery and intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress.

Huth, who lives in Riverside County, California, alleges that in or about 1974, she and a 16-year-old friend were watching a movie being filmed in a San Marino park when Cosby approached them and asked them to come sit with him.

He invited the girls to meet him at his tennis club the following Saturday, where he allegedly “served them alcoholic beverages” while they played billiards.
Huth alleges that she was required to drink a beer every time Cosby won.

After the girls had allegedly been served multiple alcoholic beverages, Cosby told them he had a “surprise” for them and brought them to the Playboy mansion, the suit alleges. Cosby allegedly told the girls to say they were 19 if anyone asked.

When Huth told Cosby she needed to use the bathroom, he directed her to a bathroom in a bedroom suite near the game room, the suit alleges. When she emerged, she allegedly found Cosby sitting on the bed. He asked her to sit down and proceeded to sexually molest her without her consent, the complaint alleges.

Cosby’s alleged acts constitute “childhood sexual abuse” and have caused Huth mental anguish and psychological damage that have caused her significant problems throughout her life, the complaint states.