Bill Cosby found liable in 1972 sexual assault, must pay over $19M in damages
A civil jury in California found 88-year-old Bill Cosby liable for drugging and sexually assaulting Donna Motsinger in 1972, and awarded her $19.25 million.
After a nearly two-week trial in Santa Monica, jurors found the 88-year-old Cosby liable for the sexual battery and assault of Donna Motsinger .
Cosby's attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, said in an email that they are disappointed and fully intend to appeal the verdict.
The decision came nearly five years after Cosby was freed from prison in Pennsylvania when the state Supreme Court threw out a criminal conviction based on similar allegations.
Motsinger had been a server at a restaurant in Sausalito near San Francisco who said in her lawsuit, filed in 2023, that Cosby had invited her to his stand-up comedy show at a theater in nearby San Carlos. Both were in their 30s at the time. She said Cosby gave her wine and two pills that she believed were aspirin, and that she was going in and out of consciousness as two men put her in a limousine.
"She woke up in her house with all her clothes off, except her underwear on – no top, no bra, and no pants," the lawsuit said. "She knew she had been drugged and raped by Bill Cosby."