Bill Cosby assault accuser awarded $59M by jury
What happened
A California jury Monday awarded Donna Motsinger $59.25 million in civil damages after finding comedian Bill Cosby liable for drugging and sexually assaulting her in 1972. Motsinger, a waitress at the time, accused Cosby of giving her pills that incapacitated her as he escorted her to his stand-up comedy show, then raping her while she was unconscious. The jury awarded her $17.5 million in past damages, $1.75 million for future damages and $40 million in punitive damages. Cosby, 88, did not testify.
Who said what
The jury’s decision “further tarnished” Cosby’s reputation, The New York Times said, after his “standing as one of America’s most beloved entertainers dissolved” in the face of dozens of similar sexual assault allegations. Cosby has “denied all allegations involving sex crimes,” USA Today said, but he was the “first Hollywood figure to be convicted following the #MeToo movement.” He served almost three years in prison for drugging and raping protégé Andrea Constand before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court threw out his conviction on a technicality in 2021.
Cosby has “settled some similar lawsuits and has been ordered to pay in others,” The Associated Press said, but Monday’s award is “likely the most he has had to pay in a case.” The money is “icing on the cake,“ Motsinger told reporters after the verdict, but the accountability is more important. “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.”
What next?
Cosby’s lawyer Jennifer Bonjean said they were “disappointed in the outcome,” but “we believe we have a strong appeal and we’ll pursue that.”