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.
