A jury has awarded more than $19 million in damages against Bill Cosby after finding him liable in a case involving a woman who accused him of assaulting her in 1972.
The plaintiff, Donna Motsinger, filed a lawsuit alleging that Cosby drugged and assaulted her after inviting her to attend one of his comedy shows in California.
According to court documents, Motsinger said she met Cosby while working as a waitress at a restaurant in Sausalito, where he was a regular customer during the recording of a stand-up album nearby.
She claimed that Cosby later invited her to a show in San Carlos and offered her a drink during a limousine ride. After consuming the drink, she said she began to feel unwell and later lost awareness.
Motsinger stated that she later woke up in her home with limited memory of what had happened.
The trial began in early March, and the jury awarded $19.25 million in compensatory damages. Jurors also ruled that Cosby should pay additional punitive damages, which will be determined in a separate proceeding.
Cosby has denied the allegations. His legal team described the claims as speculative and argued that the plaintiff could not clearly recall the events in question.
His attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, confirmed that the verdict will be appealed.
“We are disappointed but will be appealing,” she said.
The lawsuit was filed in 2023, following a temporary change in California law that allowed certain older cases to be brought forward despite previous time limits.
This is not the first legal judgment against Cosby. In a separate case, he was previously ordered to pay damages to another accuser over an alleged incident in the 1970s.
Cosby was also convicted in 2018 in Pennsylvania on assault-related charges and served three years in prison before the conviction was later overturned on appeal.
The latest ruling marks another significant moment in the long-running legal cases involving the former entertainer.
