Bill Cosby Ordered To Pay $19m Over Sex Abuse Claim
LOS ANGELES, United States: A woman who said she was drugged and sexually assaulted by master US entertainer Bill Cosby was awarded more than $19 million in damages following a civil hearing in California on Monday.
Donna Motsinger said she was working as a waitress more than 50 years ago when the artist began targeting her.
At the hearing in Santa Monica, it was explained how the comedian first came to the restaurant where Motsinger, now 84, worked.
One day, when he picked her up in his limousine, Cosby gave her a glass of wine and what he thought was an aspirin.
He began to drift in and out of consciousness, and the next moment he realized he had woken up at home, wearing only his underwear.
“She knew she had been drugged and raped by Bill Cosby,” the lawsuit said.
Lawyers said Cosby, 88, did not remember any sexual contact with Motsinger, but what happened was consensual.
The jury took three days to reach its verdict and ordered Cosby to pay $19.3 million; This figure may increase if punitive damages are also included.
The case was heard at the courthouse in 2022, where the jury decided that Cosby should pay $500,000 in damages after finding that Judy Huth molested him in 1975, when he was only 16 years old.
The man formerly known as “America’s Dad” was jailed in Pennsylvania in 2018 for drugging and abusing a woman in a separate criminal case, but was released in 2021 when his conviction was overturned on a technicality.
Cosby was a major figure in American popular culture in the late 20th century, including his starring role on “The Cosby Show,” which ran from 1984 to 1992.
Dozens of women have accused Cosby of being a calculating, serial predator who, over four decades, lured victims with sedatives and alcohol before attacking them.
