A Los Angeles jury found on Monday that Bill Cosby sexually assaulted Donna Motsinger, a former server at a Sausalito restaurant who was drugged by the disgraced comedian at one of his comedy shows in 1972.
The jury awarded Motsinger $19.25 million in damages as Cosby navigates financial woes caused by a series of lawsuits from women with rape accusations, many of which were filed under state laws that extended the window to sue for sexual assault alleged to have occurred decades ago. She could be paid more depending on whether jurors decide to grant punitive damages, meant to punish defendants for particularly egregious misconduct.
The decision is at least the second from a civil court finding Cosby liable for sexual assault after a California jury in 2022 concluded that he sexually abused a 16-year-old girl at the Playboy Mansion in 1975.
According to the complaint, Motsinger met Cosby in her 30s when she worked as a waitress at then-celebrity hotspot The Trident, where the entertainer was a regular. On one occasion, Cosby followed her back to her Mill Valley home and asked to escort her to his show at the Circle Star Theater.
After picking her up in a limo, Cosby gave her a glass of wine, the lawsuit alleged. Once there, Motsinger said she felt sick and was given what she believed was an aspirin. She proceeded to drift in and out of consciousness before waking up at her house with all her clothes off except her underwear.
Cosby, who’s maintained across several cases that any sexual encounters were consensual, didn’t testify at the trial. Motsinger was among the anonymous accusers in the 2005 lawsuit filed by former Temple University athletics director Andrea Constand.
Witnesses at the trial included Constand and two other accusers, Janice Baker Kinney and Victoria Valentino. In a separate lawsuit, Valentino accused Cosby of raping her in 1969 after she auditioned for an acting role.
Cosby served more than two years of a prison sentence of up to ten years after he was convicted of aggravated indecent assault against Constand. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court later overturned the conviction due to a non-prosecution agreement with a previous district attorney.
Last year, Cosby was sued for defaulting on a $17.5 million mortgage for his Manhattan townhouse. He’s been accused of transferring property to his wife to hide assets.
