Actor Bill Cosby lost a civil sexual assault case Monday after a California jury found evidence that he drugged and assaulted a waitress in 1972.
According to The New York Tines, the civil jury at the Santa Monica Superior Court awarded Donna Motsinger, 84, $19.25 million in damages after returning the decision, following three days of deliberations.
In her lawsuit, Motsinger stated that Cosby, 88, had been a regular customer at The Trident restaurant in Sausalito during a span of time in 1972. During one incident, after waiting on him, Cosby followed her home to Mill Valley.
Cosby then pulled up next to her and invited her to attend his standup show,”Inside the Mind of Bill Cosby,“ in San Carlos, FOX 11 Los Angeles reports.
A limousine later arrived to transport the plaintiff to the show. On the way there, Cosby offered Motsinger a glass of wine. She accepted.
“She began to feel sick and Mr. Cosby gave her what she believed was an aspirin,” the lawsuit, filed in 2023, stated.
Motisinger later woke up at home wearing only underwear, according to the lawsuit.
“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 – no top, no bra, and no pants. She knew she had been drugged and raped by Bill Cosby,” the lawsuit stated.
Cosby’s defense team argued that he had no recollection of the incident and that if any sexual contact occurred, it has been consensual.
Two previous Cosby accusers, Victoria Valentino and Janice Baker Kinney, took the stand and recounted similar experiences of being drugged and raped.
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The jury also found that Cosby acted with “malice, oppression, or fraud,” Rolling Stone reports, which could lead to punitive damages in the second trial phase.
“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 said following the decision.
She added that the damages were “icing on the cake.”
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[Feature Photo: FILE – Bill Cosby arrives for his sexual assault trial at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pa., June 17, 2017. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)]
