Jury finds that Bill Cosby sexually assaulted woman in 1972 and awards
her nearly $60 million
[March 24, 2026]
By ANDREW DALTON
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A civil jury in California found Monday that Bill
Cosby was liable for drugging and sexually assaulting a woman in 1972
and awarded her $59.25 million.
After a nearly two-week trial in Santa Monica, jurors found Cosby, 88,
liable for the sexual battery and assault of Donna Motsinger. They
awarded her $17.5 million in past damages and $1.75 million for future
damages, including “mental suffering, loss of enjoyment of life,
inconvenience, grief, anxiety, humiliation, and emotional distress.”
Then in a second phase of the trial Monday afternoon, they awarded an
additional $40 million in punitive damages.
Cosby’s attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, said in an email after the initial
award earlier Monday that they are disappointed and fully intend to
appeal the verdict. She did not immediately respond to a request for
comment on the punitive damages.
Deliberations lasted about two days.
The decision came nearly five years after Cosby was freed from prison in
Pennsylvania when the state Supreme Court threw out a criminal
conviction based on similar allegations. He has settled some similar
lawsuits and has been ordered to pay in others, but Monday's award is
likely the most he has had to pay in a case.
“This verdict is not just about me – it’s about finally being heard and
holding Mr. Cosby accountable,” Motsinger said in a statement. “I have
carried the weight of what happened to me for more than 50 years. It
never goes away. Today, a jury saw the truth and held him accountable.
That means everything. I hope this gives strength to other survivors who
are still waiting for their moment to be heard.”
Motsinger had been a server at a restaurant in Sausalito near San
Francisco who said in her lawsuit, filed in 2023, that Cosby had invited
her to his stand-up comedy show at a theater in nearby San Carlos. Both
were in their 30s at the time. She said Cosby gave her wine and two
pills that she believed were aspirin, and that she was going in and out
of consciousness as two men put her in a limousine.
“She woke up in her house with all her clothes off, except her underwear
on – no top, no bra, and no pants,” the lawsuit said. “She knew she had
been drugged and raped by Bill Cosby.”
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.”
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Bill Cosby arrives for a sentencing hearing following his sexual
assault conviction at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown
Pa, on Sept. 25, 2018. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
 Motsinger's lawsuit moved with
surprising quickness through the California courts, taking just 2
1/2 years from filing until verdict while other lawsuits against him
stalled.
“We are grateful to the jury for their careful attention to the
evidence and to Ms. Motsinger for the extraordinary courage it took
to come forward,” said Jesse Creed, one of her attorneys from the
Panish Shea Ravipudi law firm that represented her.
Cosby did not testify at the 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 the verdict and Cosby was
freed from prison after serving nearly three years of a three- to
10-year sentence.
Motsinger first made her allegations anonymously in a 2005 lawsuit
filed by Constand.
The Associated Press does not typically name people who say they
have been sexually abused unless they come forward publicly and
consent to be named, as Constand and Motsinger have.
In 2022, a jury in Santa Monica awarded $500,000 to a woman who said
Cosby sexually assaulted her at the Playboy Mansion when she was a
teenager in 1975.
Motsinger's lawsuit echoed allegations of rape, sexual assault and
sexual harassment made by at least 60 women against Cosby, all of
which he has denied.
The former stand-up comedy and television superstar once widely
known as “America’s Dad” became the first celebrity tried and
convicted in the #MeToo era before his conviction was permanently
thrown out when appeals court found he gave incriminating testimony
in a deposition only after believing he had immunity from
prosecution.
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