Celebrity Legal Dramas of 2014

— -- intro: It was a year of legal dramas for celebrities, where old allegations resurfaced and went viral, transgressions were caught on tape and Justin Bieber just couldn't seem to stay out of trouble.

The year began with Dylan Farrow revealing details of the sexual abuse she claims happened 20 years ago at the hands of her adopted father Woody Allen, and ended with Bill Cosby battling decades old accusations of sexual assault from a parade of women.

The sports world had its share of legal woes as well -- Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson come to mind -- but as the year comes to a close, we focus on a few of the cases inside Hollywood.

Click through to read about some of the biggest legal dramas of 2014.

quicklist:title: Woody Allentext: Just as awards season was heating up, Dylan Farrow, the adopted daughter of Mia Farrow and Woody Allen, penned an open letter in the New York Times on Feb. 1 that revealed details of the sexual abuse she claims happened 20 years earlier at the hands of her father, Allen. The filmmaker immediately denied Dylan’s renewed claims of abuse in a statement from his attorney: "It is tragic that after 20 years a story engineered by a vengeful lover resurfaces even though it was fully vetted and rejected by independent authorities. The one to blame for Dylan’s distress is neither Dylan nor Woody Allen."

The molestation claims originally surfaced when Mia Farrow and Allen ended their 12-year relationship in 1993. An investigation ended without any charges filed against the director. This time, as the allegations played out in headlines and social media, family members and onlookers publicly took sides, Allen responded with a New York Times letter of his own and even the stars of his film got pulled into the controversy. media: 22358839

quicklist:title: Stephen Collinstext: For years, Stephen Collins was seen as the wholesome pastor and family man on the TV show "7th Heaven." That all changed in October, when police began investigating child molestation claims against the 67-year-old actor. In court documents obtained by ABC News, the actor's estranged wife, Faye Grant, called Collins a pedophile with a "long term pattern of sexually abusing minor children."

But the most damning piece of evidence seems to come directly from Collins. On a tape reportedly recorded by his Grant during a therapy session in 2012 and released by TMZ, the actor confesses to molesting three girls. (Grant has denied leaking the tape to the media, saying the "extremely private recording" had been handed over to authorities in 2012.) As a result, the NYPD and L.A. County Sheriff's Department have launched investigations into the claims.

Collins's career has already been affected by the bombshell. The actor was released from "Ted 2" and resigned from SAG AFTRA, and UP TV yanked "7th Heaven" from its schedule.media: 26221122

quicklist:title: The Situationtext:Michael "The Situation" Sorrentino was charged with conspiracy to commit fraud, along with his older brother and manager, Marc, in September. The U.S. government claims that the brothers did not properly pay taxes on $8.9 million earned by the former "Jersey Shore" star for promotional activities. In addition, Mike was charged with two counts of filing false tax returns for 2010-2012 and failure to file a tax return for 2011, when he allegedly earned $1,955,757.

The reality star's lawyer, Richard J. Sapinski, said his client is innocent: "An indictment is merely an allegation. Michael, like every other citizen, is presumed innocent and has entered a not guilty plea. We believe that when all the facts are known it will be clear that Michael did nothing criminally wrong."

The Situation had an earlier brush with the law in July. After being charged with assault for a fight with his brother Frank, the reality star agreed to take anger classes.media: 25752642

quicklist:title: Justin Biebertext: The year got off to a rocky start for pop star Justin Bieber. In January, he was arrested for drag racing and a DUI in Miami. Bieber later agreed to a plea deal, in which he must attend 12 hours of anger management classes, pay a $500 fine, complete a YouImpact program in which he'll meet people whose lives were changed by drunk drivers and pay court costs.

Days after his DUI arrest, the 20-year-old picked up a charge of assault for an alleged incident during a limo ride in Toronto late last year. That charge was dropped in September just as he was facing an unrelated charge of dangerous driving and assault for an August incident, also in Canada. Bieber's attorney blamed the incident on the paparazzi, who he said were disturbing "Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez’ peaceful retreat." That charge is still pending. media: 26886404

quicklist:title: Teresa and Joe Giudicetext: "Real Housewives of New Jersey" star Teresa Giudice will kick off 2015 by reporting to prison. On Jan. 5, the reality TV star is expected to report to a federal prison camp in Danbury, Connecticut -- the famed facility from Piper Kerman's memoir, "Orange Is the New Black."

Giudice, who has already paid $200,000 in restitution, was sentenced to 15 months in prison earlier this month after pleading guilty to tax fraud. Giudice's husband Joe, who was sentenced to 3 1/2 years, will begin his time behind bars when his wife is free. The judge staggered their sentence in the interest of the couple's four young daughters.

"I was shaking," Giudice told Bravo host Andy Cohen about the moment the judge sentenced her. "At one point, I couldn't even move my fingers. They were stuck. I couldn't open my hands ... my nerves were shot, I've had sleepless nights."media: 27458156

quicklist:title: Shia LaBeouftext: For Shia LaBeouf, his arrest in June for causing a disturbance during the Broadway show "Cabaret" was life-changing. In October, he told Ellen DeGeneres during a visit to her talk show, "Jail is quite scary. They put a Hannibal mask on me and a lead jacket and it was just really rough. It was very scary."

In September, LaBeouf, 28, pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and was ordered to complete a three-month treatment program. If LaBeouf, who has also voluntarily been seeking help for alcohol addiction, according to his publicist, complies with the court order and does not get arrested again, the charges against him will be dismissed.media: 27458396

quicklist:title: Bill Cosbytext: When comedian Hannibal Buress referred to revered funnyman Bill Cosby as a rapist during his standup act in October, Buress wasn't exactly saying anything that hadn't been said before. But for some reason his crack went viral and opened the floodgates to a parade of women who came forward beginning in November to accuse the 77-year-old comedian of sexual assault from decades earlier. Cosby's attorney, Martin Singer, called the claims, "unsubstantiated, fantastical stories."

Cosby, who was in the midst of a tour when the scandal broke, told Florida Today, "I know people are tired of me not saying anything, but a guy doesn't have to answer to innuendos. People should fact check. People shouldn't have to go through that and shouldn't answer to innuendos."

But the claims of sexual assault, drugging and more have had a blow on Cosby's career. TV Land pulled planned repeats of "The Cosby Show" from its schedule amid the sexual assault allegations, and NBC and Netflix shelved projects with the comedian. Numerous tour dates were canceled.

By years end, the embattled comedian was fighting back, countersuing and vowing to fight a defamation lawsuit filed by a woman who says Cosby "publicly branded" her a "liar" after she came forward saying he had sexually assaulted her. media: 27100729