Who is Donna Motsinger? Woman awarded $19 million after jury finds Bill Cosby liable in 1972 sexual assault case

A California jury has ordered veteran comedian Bill Cosby to pay more than $19 million to a woman who says he drugged and raped her more than five decades ago, in a civil trial that concluded on Monday in Santa Monica.The jury’s verdict found Cosby liable for sexual assault and sexual battery in the case brought by Donna Motsinger, who says the incident happened in 1972 when she was working as a waitress in Sausalito, California. The award includes about $17.5 million for past mental suffering and $1.75 million for future suffering. Jurors also determined Cosby acted with “malice, oppression, or fraud,” which could lead to further punitive damages at a later stage.

Motsinger is now in her 80s and told the court that she met Cosby while he was a customer at the restaurant where she worked. According to her complaint, Cosby later invited her to a performance and during the ride to the show gave her a glass of wine. She said she began to feel unwell and was given aspirin, leaving her unconscious and vulnerable. The next thing she recalled was waking up at her home partially undressed, she said.

But Cosby’s attorneys disputed the allegations. They said he did not remember any sexual contact with Motsinger and, if any contact occurred, it was consensual.

They also denied that he gave Motsinger drugs without her permission.The civil trial unfolded decades after the alleged incident, made possible by changes in California law that extended the time period in which victims can bring sexual assault cases to court.

The verdict comes as part of a series of legal challenges and lawsuits Cosby has faced over the years related to allegations of sexual misconduct.88-year-old Cosby was once one of America’s most successful comedians and a household name from his long‑running television show. But his reputation was deeply damaged by numerous accusations of sexual assault over several decades. In 2018, he was convicted in Pennsylvania of aggravated indecent assault and sentenced to prison, but he was released in 2021 after the state’s Supreme Court overturned that conviction due to prosecutorial misconduct.In addition to the Motsinger case, Cosby has faced other civil judgments. In 2022, another jury in California awarded a separate accuser $500,000 in a case involving allegations from the 1970s.After several hours of deliberation, the Santa Monica jury reached its verdict on Monday and returned the $19.25 million award. While the current figure includes compensation for Motsinger’s suffering, further punitive damages may be determined in the trial’s next phase, following the jury’s finding that Cosby acted with malice.The decision marks a huge moment in a long legal path for Motsinger, who has pursued justice for more than 50 years. The award could provide financial restitution for her suffering, although it does not erase the decades that have passed since the events she described.Cosby’s legal team has indicated plans to appeal the verdict, meaning the case may continue in the courts for some time before the final outcome is known.