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In one of the most significant civil judgments against him to date, a California jury has found Bill Cosby liable for drugging and sexually assaulting a woman in 1972. On Tuesday, 24, 2026, the jury ordered the 88-year-old comedian to pay a staggering total of $19.25 million in damages to accuser Donna Motsinger.
The verdict followed a nearly two-week trial in Santa Monica, where Motsinger, now 84, detailed an incident that occurred more than five decades ago. According to court testimony, Motsinger was working as a waitress at a restaurant in Sausalito when she met Cosby. She alleged that he invited her to one of his stand-up shows and, during a limousine ride, provided her with wine and pills he claimed were aspirin. Motsinger testified that she subsequently lost consciousness, eventually waking up at her home with her clothes removed and the realization that she had been raped.
The jury’s decision was delivered in two distinct phases on Monday. In the first phase, jurors awarded Motsinger $19.25 million in compensatory damages, which included $17.5 million for past mental suffering and $1.75 million for future suffering. Crucially, the jury also found that Cosby had acted with “malice, oppression, or fraud,” which triggered a second phase to determine punitive damages. Later that afternoon, the jury returned with an additional $40 million in punitive awards, bringing the total judgment to nearly $60 million.
“It took 54 years to reclaim justice,” Motsinger said in a statement following the verdict. “Today, a jury saw the truth and held him accountable. That means everything.” The trial featured supporting testimony from other Cosby accusers, including Andrea Constand, whose 2018 criminal case led to Cosby’s brief imprisonment before the conviction was overturned on procedural grounds in 2021.
Cosby’s lead attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, expressed disappointment with the outcome and confirmed that his legal team fully intends to appeal. Throughout the proceedings, Cosby’s defense maintained that the allegations were based on “speculation” and pointed to Motsinger’s admitted lack of memory during the hours she was unconscious.
This judgment marks the largest financial penalty Cosby has faced in his decades-long history of sexual misconduct allegations and follows a 2022 civil victory for accuser Judy
Huth. As the 90-year-old entertainer continues to face a wave of lawsuits in multiple states, this verdict reinforces the shift toward civil accountability for survivors of historic sexual violence.
