Jury Orders Cosby to Pay $59 Million to Woman He Abused in 1972

This verdict is not just about me — it's about finally being heard and holding Mr. Cosby accountable," Donna Motsinger said outside the Santa Monica courthouse Monday evening, moments after a California jury handed down one of the largest civil judgments of Bill Cosby's long legal reckoning: $59.25 million for a sexual assault that occurred 54 years ago.

The jury found Cosby liable for sexually assaulting Motsinger when she was working as a waitress in 1972, concluding he drugged and raped her after picking her up in a limousine and bringing her to his comedy show in San Carlos, California. Motsinger, now 84, was working at a popular restaurant in Sausalito called the Trident when Cosby later invited her to the recording of his stand-up act, "Inside the Mind of Bill Cosby," at the Circle Star Theater in nearby San Carlos.

She alleged Cosby gave her wine that made her feel sick, then gave her two round white pills she thought were aspirin. "Next thing she knew, she was going in and out of consciousness," her lawsuit said. "The last thing Ms. Motsinger recalls were flashes of light. She woke up in her house with all her clothes off, except her underwear on. She knew she had been drugged and raped by Bill Cosby."

The jury awarded Motsinger $17.5 million in past non-economic damages, $1.75 million in future non-economic damages, and $40 million in punitive damages. The punitive award came later in the day after jurors found that Cosby acted with "malice, oppression, or fraud." In a deposition video played during the two-week trial, Cosby was asked if he had sex with Motsinger. He replied, "I cannot remember if I did or not."

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." Just as in previous sexual assault trials, both criminal and civil, Cosby, 88, did not testify in his own defense.

Motsinger's claims were brought under California law permitting survivors of sexual assault to pursue civil actions for previously time-barred claims, and she filed suit in September 2023 after decades of silence. The case was presided over by Judge Bradley S. Phillips in the Superior Court of California, Los Angeles County, Santa Monica Courthouse, case number 23SMCV04562.

Cosby's lawyer, Jennifer Bonjean, said they were disappointed in the outcome and would appeal the verdict. Whether Motsinger will ever collect remains an open question. An expert witness called by Motsinger's legal team estimated Cosby's net worth at roughly $128 million, a figure Cosby himself has disputed. In a deposition in the case, he acknowledged he had not earned anything through his entertainment work in roughly a decade and that his net worth had "gone down like a submarine with no motor." He has also faced foreclosure on two New York properties.

Cosby did not testify at trial, whose witnesses included Andrea Constand, the Temple University sports administrator he was convicted of sexually assaulting in a Pennsylvania criminal court in 2018. The state's Supreme Court threw out that verdict, and Cosby was freed from prison after serving nearly three years of a three- to 10-year sentence.

Standing outside the Santa Monica courthouse after the verdict, Motsinger said it had been "54 years to get justice," calling the damages "icing on the cake." What mattered most to her, she said, was "that I'm believed and he, in some way, has to be accountable for what he did to me.