To the Pillory: 88-Year-Old Comedian Bill Cosby Bankrupted by Former Waitress 0 7

A civil jury in California found actor and comedian Bill Cosby guilty of sexualized violence, CNN reports. For the crime committed in 1972, the 88-year-old celebrity must pay the victim $59.25 million in damages.

The lawsuit against Bill Cosby was filed in 2023 by Donna Motsinger. In 1972, she worked as a waitress at a restaurant near San Francisco. At that time, both she and the celebrity were in their 30s. The woman claims that the stand-up star Cosby invited her to his show, after which he treated her to wine and gave her two pills that Motsinger thought were aspirin.

"She (Motsinger) would come in and out of consciousness as two men put her in a limousine. She woke up in her home with no clothes on except for underwear without a top, a bra, and pants," the lawsuit states.

"She knew that Bill Cosby had drugged her and raped her," emphasizes CNN.

At the same time, Cosby's lawyers, as reported by the network, argued that the accusations were almost entirely based on speculation and assumptions, stating that Motsinger "freely admits that she has no idea what happened."

After three days of deliberation, the jury in California ruled in favor of Motsinger, awarding her $19.25 million. In the second phase of the trial, which took place on Monday, March 23, and focused on determining the amount of punitive damages, the jury awarded the woman an additional $40 million.

Just a few years ago, Motsinger's case would have been closed, as she filed her accusations after the statute of limitations had expired. However, California is among the states that have amended sexual violence legislation in recent years.

This allows victims to report crimes even after a long period, clarifies The New York Times (NYT). This case was not the first accusation against Cosby, who was considered a comedy genius and a respectable family man in the popular sitcom of the 1980s and 1990s, "The Cosby Show."

As noted by NYT, the only conviction against Mr. Cosby for sexualized violence was overturned in 2021 after he served three years of his sentence in a maximum-security prison near Philadelphia. He was accused of drugging and raping Andrea Constand, a former employee of Temple University, whom Mr. Cosby had mentored.

"It took 54 years to achieve justice, and I know that for the other women this is not the end of the story, but I hope this helps them even a little," Motsinger welcomed the jury's decision.

Motsinger's case is the second civil lawsuit filed against Cosby after his release from prison, with the first being in 2022. At that time, the jury found that the comedian had committed sexualized violence against then 16-year-old Judy Huth at the Playboy Mansion. The verdict was in favor of Huth, who is now 64 years old, awarding her $500,000 in damages, NPR reported at the time.

CNN emphasizes that Cosby became the first celebrity to be tried and convicted in the #MeToo movement era, but the conviction was later overturned. This occurred when an appellate court found that the comedian had testified only after learning about immunity from criminal prosecution. The movement was aimed at combating sexual violence and harassment, with women sharing their experiences of trauma. It started after an investigation by NYT.