Bill Cosby faces civil trial against woman who claims he forced her into sex act at Playboy mansion in 1975 when she was 16

Former Cosby Show actor will not attend the trial in California or give evidence

Bill Cosby’s latest civil sex abuse trial is set to begin as he faces claims from a woman that he forced her into performing a sex act at the Playboy mansion in 1975 when she was 16.

Judy Huth, 64, sued Cosby in 2014 for sexual battery and emotional distress and is seeking unspecified damages.

The case is set to begin in Santa Monica, California, on Wednesday with lawyers for Ms Huth outlining the evidence they intend to present to the court.

Lawyers for Cosby, 85, admit that he took her to the Playboy mansion and that a photo of it exists, but that she was not a minor at the time and that no sexual abuse took place.

It is one of the final cases that Cosby will face following his release from prison last year when a Pennsylvania appeals court threw out his criminal conviction for sexual assault.

The former Cosby Show star will not attend the trial, with his lawyers saying that blindness has made it too difficult for him to travel.

The judge in the case ruled that he did not have to testify and he could assert his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination.

In court papers, Ms Huth claims she met Cosby on the set of the movie Let’s Do It Again in California and several days later was invited to his tennis club with a friend.

She alleges that he gave her alcohol and then took them to the Playboy mansion in Los Angeles, where he forced her to perform a sex act on him.

Ms Huth alleges that Cosby told her and the friend to say they were 19 if asked their ages by staff at the mansion.

The comedian, once known as “America’s Dad” for his role as Cliff Huxtable on the hit TV show, has been accused by dozens of women of sexual assaults going back five decades.

Many of the cases have been settled by Cosby and his insurers.

When he was released from prison in 2021, Cosby had served three years of a 10-year sentence for drugging and abusing Temple University sports administrator Andrea Constand in 2004.

Cosby was charged and convicted based on a damaging deposition he had given in a civil lawsuit brought by Ms Constand, despite the then-district attorney verbally promising he would not be prosecuted if he gave evidence.

The ground-breaking Black actor grew up in public housing in Philadelphia before making an estimated $400m during his career.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.