{"id":11139,"date":"2026-05-31T17:31:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T17:31:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=11139"},"modified":"2026-05-31T17:31:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T17:31:19","slug":"bill-cosby-denied-new-trial-in-womans-59-million-trial-verdict","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=11139","title":{"rendered":"Bill Cosby denied new trial in woman\u2019s $59 million trial verdict"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

A judge has denied Bill Cosby a new trial after a woman won a nearly $60 million verdict this spring in her lawsuit alleging that the actor\/comedian sexually abused her more than 50 years ago while she was a server at a Sausalito restaurant.<\/p>\n

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Donna Motsinger contended in her Santa Monica Superior Court sexual battery lawsuit that Cosby drugged and raped her. On March 23, a jury awarded her $19.25 million in compensatory damages and $40 million in punitive damages for a total of $59.25 million.<\/p>\n

Cosby\u2019s attorneys filed motions for a new trial or a judgment notwithstanding the verdict. On Friday, Judge Bradley Phillips heard arguments on the motions, briefly took the case under submission and denied both motions later in the day.<\/p>\n

\u201cDefendant has not shown that there was any irregularity in the proceedings or any order or abuse of discretion by the court that prevented defendant from having a fair trial, that either the compensatory or punitive damages are excessive, that the evidence was insufficient to justify the verdict, that the verdict is against law or that there was any error in law,\u201d the judge wrote.<\/p>\n

In their court papers, Motsinger\u2019s lawyers argued that one trial was enough.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe jury found that defendant William H. Cosby raped plaintiff Donna Motsinger and awarded damages to compensate her losses and punish Cosby for his reprehensible conduct,\u201d Motsinger\u2019s lawyers stated.<\/p>\n

Unhappy with the result, Cosby wanted the verdict set aside on grounds that some of the judge\u2019s rulings \u201cexceeded the bounds of reason\u201d and prejudiced his right to a fair trial, according to the Motsinger attorneys\u2019 pleadings. But the Cosby arguments repeated points rejected previously by the judge after briefing and argument, the plaintiff\u2019s lawyers further wrote in their court papers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was no error, let alone prejudicial error, warranting a new trial,\u201d according to the Motsinger attorneys\u2019 court papers.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

In addition, the judge was right to exclude from evidence Motsinger\u2019s 1970s-era LSD and marijuana use as irrelevant, prejudicial and improper character evidence, the Motsinger attorneys further state.<\/p>\n

But in their court papers, Cosby\u2019s attorneys said they were wrongly barred from introducing police notes showing prior inconsistent statements by Motsinger and that by barring the plaintiff\u2019s prior drug use the court \u201csanitized plaintiff\u201d and cast her in a false light before the jury.<\/p>\n

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\u201cPlaintiff\u2019s own use of drugs is highly probative of whether she would have unknowingly consumed two round white pills, falsely believing them to be aspirin,\u201d said Cosby lawyers\u2019 pleadings.<\/p>\n

According to Motsinger\u2019s lawsuit, Cosby came into the Trident restaurant every day during a stretch of 1972. Motsinger worked there as a server and tended to Cosby at his table, the suit stated. One day when she was headed to her Mill Valley home he followed her, pulled up next to the plaintiff and asked her if she would like to attend a show he was performing in San Carlos, the suit stated.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Motsinger agreed and Cosby said he would pick her up later. A limousine driver subsequently took Motsinger to the theater and on the way there, Cosby gave her a glass of wine, the suit stated.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe began to feel sick and Mr. Cosby gave her what she believed was an aspirin,\u201d the suit stated, while adding that the next thing Motsinger knew she was going in and out of consciousness. The last thing Motsinger remembers were flashes of light and waking up at home wearing only her underwear, the suit filed in September 2023 stated.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe knew she had been drugged and raped by Bill Cosby,\u201d the suit stated.<\/p>\n

Attorneys for the 88-year-old Cosby said he did not remember any sexual contact with Motsinger, but if any occurred, it was consensual. The same lawyers also denied giving Motsinger drugs without her permission.<\/p>\n

In June 2022, another Santa Monica civil jury found Bill Cosby liable for sexually abusing Judy Huth at the Playboy Mansion in 1975, when she was 16 years old. The panel awarded Huth $500,000.<\/p>\n

Cosby was convicted in 2018 of sexually assaulting Andrea Constand in 2004. He served three years in prison, but his conviction was overturned in 2021 and he was released from custody.<\/p>\n

Read more Lawsuit alleges 136 were sexually abused in San Bernardino County juvenile detention<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Donna Motsinger said he sexually abused her more than 50 years ago while she was a server at a Sausalito restaurant.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11138,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-based-on-facts-either-observed-and-verified-directly-by-the-reporter-or-reported-and-verified-from-knowledgeable-sources","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nBill Cosby denied new trial in woman\u2019s $59 million trial verdict - Silicon Valley Moving Post<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=11139\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bill Cosby denied new trial in woman\u2019s $59 million trial verdict - 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