A civil jury in California has found Bill Cosby liable for the 1972 sexual assault of Donna Motsinger. The jury awarded Motsinger $19.25 million in damages following the conclusion of the trial.
The lawsuit was filed in late 2023. Motsinger utilized a temporary California look-back law that allowed adult survivors of sexual assault to file civil claims outside the standard statute of limitations. She alleged that Cosby drugged and assaulted her after his stand-up performance, titled “Inside the Mind of Bill Cosby,” at the Circle Star Theater.
The $19.25 million jury award is part of a broader legal action where the 88-year-old faces up to a $59 million judgment. Cosby has consistently denied the allegations. The verdict represents the latest legal ruling against the former comedian.
A former California waitress says Cosby assaulted her in 1972. The verdict comes four years after another accuser won a jury award against him in the same courtroom.
Read more #OnTheGriohttps://t.co/rtszGbG2pp
— theGrio.com (@theGrio) March 23, 2026
Over the past decade, more than 60 women have accused Cosby of sexual offenses ranging from battery to drug-facilitated rape. The allegations span from the mid-1960s through the 2000s. Cosby was previously convicted of aggravated indecent assault in Pennsylvania in 2018. He served nearly three years in a state prison before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned his conviction in June 2021. The court ruled that a verbal agreement with a previous district attorney protected him from prosecution in that specific criminal case.
Protected from further criminal trials in Pennsylvania, Cosby has faced multiple civil lawsuits across the country. In June 2022, a separate California jury found him liable for the 1975 sexual assault of Judy Huth, awarding her $500,000. Cosby is also facing a series of active lawsuits filed in late 2023 under a similar expiring look-back law in New York.
This verdict establishes another financial penalty for the former actor. His ongoing civil litigation continues to impact his legacy within the entertainment industry.