SANTA MONICA, Calif. — A civil jury in California on Monday found that Bill Cosby had drugged and sexually assaulted Donna Motsinger, a former server at a Sausalito, California, restaurant, after escorting her to one of his comedy shows in 1972.
The jury awarded Motsinger $19.25 million in damages, a judgment that comes as Cosby, by his own account, has run into financial difficulties.
The decision, on the third day of deliberations, further tarnished the reputation of a man, 88, whose standing as one of America’s most beloved entertainers dissolved as dozens of women came forward in recent years to accuse him of sexual misconduct.
Cosby’s only criminal conviction for sexual assault was overturned for procedural reasons in 2021 after he had served three years of a three- to 10-year sentence at a maximum-security prison outside Philadelphia.
In Motsinger’s lawsuit, brought in Los Angeles Superior Court, she described how Cosby had attacked her when they were both in their 30s, after giving her wine and a pill that had left her incapacitated. Cosby did not testify at the trial and the jury sided with her account.
After the decision, his lawyer Jennifer Bonjean said he would appeal.
Motsinger, speaking at the Santa Monica courthouse, welcomed the jury’s decision. “It has been 54 years to get justice, and I know it’s not complete for the rest of the women, but I hope it helps them a little bit,” she said.
The jury also made a finding of additional punitive damages against Cosby, which have yet to be determined.
Cosby denied the allegations, as he has all accusations brought by the women who have said he was a sexual predator.
He has consistently maintained that any sexual contact he had was consensual. His lawyers have depicted him over the years as someone who unfairly became a target of the emotions stirred by the #MeToo movement.
After his release from prison, Cosby was the subject of a civil trial in 2022 brought by another accuser, Judy Huth. In that case, the jury sided with Huth and found that Cosby had sexually assaulted her in 1975, when as a 16-year-old girl she accepted his invitation to join him at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles.