Woman awarded $19M in Bill Cosby sexual battery lawsuit

PREVIOUS: Bill Cosby trial underway in Santa Monica

PREVIOUS: Jury selection was expected to continue Tuesday. A lawsuit accuses Bill Cosby of drugging and sexually assaulting a woman in 1972.

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SANTA MONICA, Calif. – A woman who said Bill Cosby sexually abused her more than 50 years ago while she was working as a server at a Sausalito restaurant was awarded $19.25 million Monday by a Santa Monica jury in her lawsuit against the comedian.

What we know:

Donna Motsinger contended in her Santa Monica Superior Court sexual battery lawsuit that the actor/comedian came into the Trident restaurant every day during a stretch of 1972. Motsinger had served Cosby at his table and one day when she was headed to her Mill Valley home he followed her, pulled up next to the plaintiff and asked her if she would like to attend a show he was performing in San Carlos, according to the complaint.

Motsinger agreed and Cosby said he would pick her up later, the suit states. A limousine driver subsequently took Motsinger to the theater and on the way there Cosby gave her a glass of wine, the suit states.

"She began to feel sick and Mr. Cosby gave her what she believed was an aspirin," the suit states, while adding that the next thing Motsinger knew she was going in and out of consciousness.

The last thing Motsinger remembers were flashes of light and waking up at home wearing only her underwear, the suit filed in September 2023 states.

"She knew she had been drugged and raped by Bill Cosby," the suit states.

Attorneys for the 88-year-old Cosby said he did not remember any sexual contact with Motsinger, but if any occurred, it was consensual. The same lawyers also denied giving Motsinger drugs without her permission.

Jurors reached the verdict on their third day of deliberations. The panel also determined that Motsinger is due punitive damages, but that amount has not yet been determined.

Jennifer Bonjean, an attorney for Cosby, told reporters after the verdict that she was "disappointed" by the decision and the case will be appealed.

Motsinger said she was glad that Cosby will be held accountable.

‘Icing on the cake’

What they're saying:

"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," she said outside court, according to The New York Times.

She said the financial damages were "icing on the cake."

In June 2022, another Santa Monica civil jury found Bill Cosby liable for sexually abusing Judy Huth at the Playboy Mansion in 1975, when she was 16 years old. The panel awarded Huth $500,000.

Cosby was convicted in 2018 of sexually assaulting Andrea Constand in 2004. He served three years in prison, but his conviction was overturned in 2021 and he was released from custody.