A woman who claims Bill Cosby drugged and raped her in 1972 won a $19.25 million jury award on Monday, decades after first stepping forward as Jane Doe Number 8 in the 2005 lawsuit filed by former Temple University athletics director Andrea Constand against the disgraced comedian.
Jurors found Cosby liable for the sexual assault of an intoxicated woman as well as sexual battery. They awarded plaintiff Donna Motsinger $17.5 million for past mental suffering and $1.75 million for future suffering. In another major finding, they determined Cosby acted with “malice, oppression, or fraud,” opening the door to punitive damages to be decided in a second phase of the trial.
In her testimony and court filings, Motsinger, 84, claimed Cosby befriended her while she was working as a waitress at a popular restaurant in Sausalito, California, called The Trident. She said Cosby later invited her to the recording of his standup act Inside the Mind of Bill Cosby at the Circle Star Theater in nearby San Carlos. She alleged Cosby gave her wine that made her feel sick and then gave her two round white pills she thought were aspirin.
“Next thing she knew, she was going in and out of consciousness,” Motsinger’s lawsuit said. “The last thing Ms. Motsinger recalls were flashes of light. She woke up in her house. with all her clothes off, except her underwear on – no top, no bra, and no pants. She knew she had been drugged and raped by Bill Cosby.”
I don’t love that the headline as well as the first line of the article use the words “says” and “claims”.
the jury ruled he was guilty. we’re so far past “allegedly” and all that garbage. he did it. she was drugged. she was raped. there is no reason to be inferring any amount of doubt anymore.
And what happened to the other $40.05 million between title and first sentence?
I don’t love it either in general, but they chose those words very specifically since this was not a criminal case.
The jury found him liable, not guilty. This was a civil suit, not criminal. That’s why they’re saying this and not “convicted of assault” or whatever.
This jury. He was in jail for 3 years before they decided some procedural nonsense made his confession not count.
He did it. He was convinced for it. He served time for it.