A California jury has ordered American comedian Bill Cosby to pay $19.25 million in damages to a former waitress who accused him of drugging and sexually assaulting her in 1972.
The plaintiff, Donna Motsinger, now 84, told the court that Cosby picked her up in a limousine, gave her wine and a pill she believed to be aspirin, after which she became incapacitated.
According to court documents, she said she drifted in and out of consciousness shortly after taking the pill.
She further stated that she later woke up at home partially unclothed and believed she had been drugged and assaulted.
Cosby, 88, has denied the allegations, maintaining that the encounter was consensual. His lawyer, Jennifer Bonjean, said he would appeal the verdict.
The case was heard in Santa Monica, California, where the jury delivered its decision, with the possibility of additional punitive damages still under consideration.
Motsinger, who worked as a waitress at a celebrity-frequented restaurant in Sausalito at the time, said Cosby had invited her to one of his stand-up shows before the incident.
The judgment marks another legal setback for Cosby, whose reputation, built on his role in the popular television series The Cosby Show, has been marred by multiple allegations of sexual misconduct spanning several decades.
In 2021, Cosby was released from prison after serving nearly three years of a sentence for sexual assault, following the overturning of his conviction by a Pennsylvania court on a technicality.
