A new civil trial is digging into allegations that Bill Cosby drugged and raped a woman more than half a century ago. A lawsuit filed by 84-year-old Donna Motsinger accuses Cosby, 88, of giving her wine and a pill and then sexually assaulting her after a 1972 comedy show near San Francisco, per the New York Times. Motsinger says she thought at the time she was taking aspirin, but now believes Cosby gave her a drug that made her lose consciousness, per TMZ. Her lawyer says she woke up at home in bed wearing only underwear. Cosby denies the claim and has long maintained that any sexual encounters with his accusers were consensual.
Motsinger's case in Los Angeles Superior Court is among those revived under California's "look-back" law allowing older sexual assault claims to proceed. It's the second civil case brought against The Cosby Show star since his 2018 sexual assault conviction was overturned on appeal in 2021 because of a prior non-prosecution agreement. In the other case, a Los Angeles jury awarded an accuser $500,000 in damages. This time, a judge has allowed five women to testify to what he called similar alleged conduct to show a possible pattern.
Andrea Constand, whose criminal case led to Cosby's 2018 conviction, is among those who will testify over the course of the trial, expected to last about two weeks. Cosby unsuccessfully tried to block the testimony, per TMZ. He will not appear in court. According to a filing from Motsinger, per TMZ, "he does not care to appear." In a November deposition, Cosby complained allegations against him have caused his net worth to plummet "like a submarine with no motor," per the Times. He said he hadn't worked in 10 years "or more." He also admitted to wanting to have sex with Motsinger but said he couldn't remember if he did.
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