Cosby Sexually Assaulted Woman in 1972, Jury Awards $19M+

Tuesday, March 24, 2026

LOS ANGELES -- A civil jury in California found Monday that Bill Cosby was liable for drugging and sexually assaulting a woman in 1972 and awarded her $59.25 million. After a nearly two-week trial in Santa Monica, jurors found Cosby, 88, liable for the sexual battery and assault of Donna Motsinger. They awarded her $17.5 million in past damages and $1.75 million for future damages, including "mental suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, inconvenience, grief, anxiety, humiliation, and emotional distress." Then in a second phase of the trial Monday afternoon, they awarded an additional $40 million in punitive damages.

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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."

In court filings, Cosby's lawyers argued that the allegations rested almost entirely on speculation and assumption, saying Motsinger "freely admits that she has no idea what happened."

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