Bill Cosby Ordered to Pay $19 Million in Sexual Abuse Civil Case

Veteran US entertainer Bill Cosby has been ordered to pay over $19 million to a woman who alleged he drugged and sexually assaulted her more than five decades ago. The ruling came on Monday following a civil hearing in California.

The plaintiff, Donna Motsinger, recounted that she was working as a waitress over 50 years ago when Cosby began targeting her. According to court documents, Cosby visited the restaurant where Motsinger worked and later picked her up in his limousine, offering her a glass of wine along with what she believed was an aspirin. Motsinger said she began slipping in and out of consciousness and later awoke at her home wearing only her underwear.

Attorneys for Motsinger argued that she had been drugged and raped by Cosby. Cosby, now 88, denied any sexual misconduct, asserting that he had no recollection of contact with Motsinger and that any encounter, if it occurred, was consensual.

The civil case was heard at the same Santa Monica courthouse where, in 2022, a jury awarded $500,000 in damages to Judy Huth, who claimed Cosby molested her in 1975 at the age of 16. Cosby was also previously convicted in 2018 in Pennsylvania for drugging and molesting a woman, though his conviction was overturned in 2021 on a technicality.

Cosby, once dubbed “America’s Dad” for his starring role on The Cosby Show (1984–1992), has faced allegations from dozens of women over several decades, many of whom claimed he used drugs or other substances to incapacitate them before engaging in sexual misconduct.

This latest ruling underscores the continued legal and financial consequences facing the former television icon decades after the alleged incidents.

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