{"id":560174,"date":"2026-03-24T02:13:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T02:13:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/560174\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T02:13:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T02:13:12","slug":"bill-cosby-ordered-to-pay-us19m-for-historical-sexual-assault","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/560174\/","title":{"rendered":"Bill Cosby ordered to pay $US19m for historical sexual assault"},"content":{"rendered":"

A civil jury in California has found Bill Cosby is liable for drugging and sexually assaulting a woman in 1972 and awarded her almost $27.5 million.<\/p>\n

Warning: This story contains descriptions of sexual abuse.<\/p>\n

After a nearly two-week trial in Santa Monica, jurors found 88-year-old Cosby liable for the sexual battery and assault of Donna Motsinger.<\/p>\n

\"Bill<\/p>\n

In 2022, a jury in Santa Monica awarded $500,000 to a woman who said Cosby sexually assaulted her at the Playboy Mansion when she was a teenager in 1975. (Reuters:\u00a0Mark Makela)<\/p>\n

Cosby’s attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, said in an email they were disappointed and fully intended to appeal the verdict.<\/p>\n

The decision came nearly five years after Cosby was freed from prison in Pennsylvania when the state Supreme Court threw out a criminal conviction based on similar allegations.<\/p>\n

Ms Motsinger had been a server at a restaurant in Sausalito near San Francisco and said in her lawsuit, filed in 2023, Cosby had invited her to his stand-up comedy show at a theatre in nearby San Carlos.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Both were in their 30s at the time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Abuse claims against Kevin Spacey settled<\/a><\/p>\n

Hollywood actor Kevin Spacey avoids a new trial after settling out of court.<\/p>\n

She said Cosby gave her wine and two pills she believed were aspirin, and she was going in and out of consciousness as two men put her in a limousine.<\/p>\n

“She woke up in her house with all her clothes off, except her underwear on \u2014 no top, no bra, and no pants,” the lawsuit said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“She knew she had been drugged and raped by Bill Cosby.”<\/p>\n

In court filings, Cosby’s lawyers argued that the allegations rested almost entirely on speculation and assumption, saying Ms Motsinger “freely admits that she has no idea what happened”.<\/p>\n

\"Bill<\/p>\n

Cosby’s 2022 conviction was permanently thrown out when appeals court found he gave incriminating testimony in a deposition only after believing he had immunity from prosecution. (AP: Michael Sisak)<\/p>\n

Jurors awarded Ms Motsinger $US17.5 million ($24.97) in past damages and $US1.75 million for future damages, including “mental suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, inconvenience, grief, anxiety, humiliation, and emotional distress”.<\/p>\n

They deliberated for just over a day.<\/p>\n

They can award even more in a punitive damages phase of the trial that starts later this week.<\/p>\n

Cosby did not testify at the trial, where witnesses included Andrea Constand, the Temple University sports administrator he was convicted of sexually assaulting in a Pennsylvania criminal court in 2018.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Bill<\/p>\n

The former stand-up comedy and television superstar once widely known as “America’s Dad” was the first celebrity tried and convicted in the #MeToo era. (AP: Matt Slocum)<\/p>\n

The state’s Supreme Court threw out the verdict and Cosby was freed from prison after serving nearly three years of a three- to 10-year sentence.<\/p>\n

Ms Motsinger first made her allegations anonymously in a 2005 lawsuit filed by Ms Constand.<\/p>\n

Should we separate artists from their art?<\/a><\/p>\n

Post MeToo, audiences are reconsidering great artistic works in the light of their creators’ transgressions. But is it truly possible to separate the art from the artist?\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 2022, a jury in Santa Monica awarded $US500,000 to a woman who said Cosby sexually assaulted her at the Playboy Mansion when she was a teenager in 1975.<\/p>\n

Ms Motsinger’s lawsuit echoed allegations of rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment made by at least 60 women against Cosby, all of which he has denied.<\/p>\n

The former stand-up comedy and television superstar, once widely known as “America’s Dad”, became the first celebrity tried and convicted in the #MeToo era before his conviction was permanently thrown out when the appeals court found he gave incriminating testimony in a deposition only after believing he had immunity from prosecution.<\/p>\n

AP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A civil jury in California has found Bill Cosby is liable for drugging and sexually assaulting a woman…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":560175,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[44574,276395,64,63,232515,232517,134,170298,6113,6671,13452],"class_list":["post-560174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-metoo","tag-andrea-constand","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bill-cosby","tag-donna-motsinger","tag-entertainment","tag-kevin-spacey","tag-san-francisco","tag-sexual-assault","tag-the-cosby-show"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=560174"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560174\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/560175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=560174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=560174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=560174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}