Jury Orders Cosby to Pay $59 Million for 1972 Sexual Assault

A civil jury in Santa Monica found Bill Cosby liable for drugging and sexually assaulting Donna Motsinger in 1972 and ordered him to pay $59.25 million in damages. The 88-year-old actor now faces the largest financial judgment of his legal battles, a concrete consequence for conduct alleged more than 50 years ago. After a nearly two-week trial, jurors determined Cosby committed sexual battery and assault against Motsinger, who was working as a server at a restaurant in Sausalito near San Francisco when the alleged assault occurred.

Motsinger alleged that Cosby invited her to his stand-up comedy show at a theater in San Carlos when both were in their 30s. She said he gave her wine and two pills she believed were aspirin. According to her lawsuit, filed in 2023, she was going in and out of consciousness as two men placed her in a limousine. She woke at home with most of her clothes removed, except for her underwear, knowing she had been drugged and raped.

Cosby's legal team rejected the account in court filings, arguing that Motsinger "freely admits that she has no idea what happened" and that the allegations rested almost entirely on speculation and assumption. The actor did not testify at trial.

Jurors awarded Motsinger $17.5 million in past damages and $1.75 million for future damages, which included "mental suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, inconvenience, grief, anxiety, humiliation, and emotional distress." In a second phase of the trial Monday afternoon, they added $40 million in punitive damages, bringing the total to $59.25 million.

Deliberations lasted about two days. Cosby's attorney Jennifer Bonjean said in an email that they are disappointed and fully intend to appeal the verdict.

Motsinger's lawsuit echoed allegations made by at least 60 women against Cosby, all of which he has denied. He was convicted in a Pennsylvania criminal court in 2018 of sexually assaulting Andrea Constand, a Temple University sports administrator, but the state Supreme Court threw out that conviction nearly five years ago. Cosby was freed from prison after serving nearly three years of a three- to 10-year sentence.

Constand testified as a witness in Motsinger's trial. In 2022, a jury in Santa Monica awarded another woman $500,000 after she said Cosby assaulted her at the Playboy Mansion in 1975 when she was a teenager.

In a statement after the verdict, Motsinger said the judgment meant she had finally been heard and held Cosby accountable. "I have carried the weight of what happened to me for more than 50 years. It never goes away," she said. "Today, a jury saw the truth and held him accountable. That means everything. I hope this gives strength to other survivors who are still waiting for their moment to be heard."