California civil jury finds Bill Cosby raped woman in 1972, awards $19.25 million in damages
Donna Motsinger, now 84, filed a lawsuit against Cosby, now 88, accusing Cosby of drugging and sexually assaulting her.
A state jury in California on Monday sided with a woman who accused the now-notorious entertainer Bill Cosby of sexually assaulting her in 1972, and awarded the plaintiff $19.25 million in damages.
Donna Motsinger, now 84 and a resident of New Mexico, filed a lawsuit against Cosby, now 88, in Superior Court in Los Angeles in 2023, accusing Cosby of drugging and raping her.
It was the second sexual-assault lawsuit Cosby — once called “America’s Dad” — has lost since being released from state prison in Pennsylvania in 2021.
The Philadelphia native was convicted in 2018 of drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand, a former sports administrator at Temple University, and was sentenced to three to 10 years in prison.
However, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court three years later overturned the conviction, ruling that a non-prosecution agreement with a former district attorney in Montgomery County barred Cosby from being prosecuted in the Constand case.
Just short of a year later, a California civil jury found that Cosby sexually abused a 16-year-old girl at the Playboy Mansion in 1976.
Lawyers for both sides in the Motsinger case could not be reached for comment Monday.
The New York Times reported that Cosby’s lawyer, Jennifer Bonjean, said Cosby would appeal the verdict. “I was obviously disappointed in the decision, but we believe we have a strong appeal and we’ll pursue that,” Bonjean said.
The jury still has to decide on punitive damages against Cosby.
After the verdict on Monday, the Times reported, Motsinger said: “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.”
Motsinger described the $19.25 million in damages as “icing on the cake.”
According to the 2023 complaint filed by Motsinger, she was working as a server at The Trident, a restaurant in Sausalito, just north of San Francisco, that was popular with celebrities.
Cosby was in the area performing his comedy act at the Circle Star Theater in San Carlos, a city south of San Francisco. He was recording his act for his upcoming album, Inside the Mind of Bill Cosby, according to the lawsuit.
Cosby regularly visited The Trident and became friendly with Motsinger. He invited her to come see him perform at the Circle Star Theater and she agreed, the lawsuit said.
He picked her up from her home in a limousine and gave her a glass of wine along the way, according to the complaint.
In the dressing room of the theater, Motsinger began to feel sick and Cosby offered her what she believed was an aspirin, according to the complaint.
“Next thing she knew, she was going in and out of consciousness while two men attending to Mr. Cosby were putting her in the limousine with Mr. Cosby. In the limousine, Mr. Cosby sat near the window and put his arms around her. The last thing Ms. Motsinger recalls were flashes of light,” according to the complaint.
“She woke up in her house with all her clothes off, except her underwear on — no top, no bra, and no pants. She knew she had been drugged and raped by Bill Cosby,” according to the complaint.
In his deposition, according to the New York Times, Cosby said he remembered being in the limousine with Motsinger and wanting to have sex with her, but he said: “I cannot remember if I did or not.”