Tuesday, a California jury concluded in a civil lawsuit that Bill Cosby sexually assaulted a woman at the Playboy Mansion in 1975, when she was a minor and ordered him to pay her $500,000 in damages for emotional distress.

Judy Huth testified that when she was 16, and he was 37, the comedian invited her and a friend to his estate and forced her to perform a sex act.

The verdict came nearly a year after Cosby was released from prison after the highest court in Pennsylvania overturned his sexual assault conviction in a separate criminal case.

The first civil action against Cosby to go to trial was Huth's.

Huth, who is now 64 years old, said she was "elated" by the verdict in her case, which she filed in 2014 in response to media reports detailing the allegations of many women against Cosby. According to Huth, these allegations sparked recollections of her interaction with Cosby and produced four years of worry and other symptoms.

"It's been so many years, so many tears," Huth told reporters outside the California Superior Court in Santa Monica. It took a long time to arrive.

A few days after meeting the then-famous actor and comedian in a public park, Cosby invited Huth and her friend to his estate, according to Huth's testimony. She stated that as she emerged from a restroom, Cosby grabbed her hand and used it to touch his genitalia.

Cosby, who was not present during the trial, disputed Huth's accusation. The verdict will be appealed, according to Cosby spokesman Andrew Wyatt.

"Mr. Cosby continues to maintain his innocence and will vigorously fight these false accusations, so that he can get back to bringing the pursuit of happiness, joy and laughter to the world," Wyatt said in a statement.

Cosby, 84, is best remembered for his role as the endearing husband and father in the 1980s sitcom "The Cosby Show," which earned him the nickname "America's Dad." However, his family-friendly reputation was destroyed after over fifty women accused him of sexual assaults for nearly half a century.

Huth filed the lawsuit under a California statute that permits persons who allege they were mistreated as children to launch civil lawsuits as adults years later.

Three other women who accused Cosby of abuse attended the trial and told reporters that the result vindicated them. Lili Bernard, who has a pending civil claim against Cosby in New Jersey, stated that the decision was "important for every sexual assault survivor who has not received justice."

She said, "We will never give up,"

The jury did not wholly rule in favor of Huth. By a vote of 9 to 3, the panel concluded that she had not produced "clear and convincing evidence" that Cosby acted with "malice, oppression or fraud."

If the jury had answered in the affirmative, they could have awarded Huth extra punitive damages.

Cosby stated in a deposition tape given to the jury that he did not recall Huth. However, he noted that the incident could not have occurred since he would not have pursued sexual contact with a minor under the age of 18 at that time.

Cosby's attorney Jennifer Bonjean contested Huth's testimony throughout the trial, including her amended timeframe.

When filing the complaint in December 2014, Huth stated that the assault occurred in 1974, when she was 15. She informed the jury that she suddenly realized she was mistaken about the year and now believes it happened in 1975.