LOS ANGELES, California: A jury in California found Bill Cosby liable for drugging and sexually assaulting a woman in 1972, and awarded her US$59.25 million in damages.

Jurors in a Santa Monica courtroom on March 23 found Cosby, 88, liable for the sexual battery and assault of Donna Motsinger, in a trial that lasted two weeks.

An earlier report on Big News Network stated that the jury had ordered Cosby to pay $19.25 million in damages to the former waitress.

Motsinger received $17.5 million in past damages and $1.75 million for future damages, including "mental suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, inconvenience, grief, anxiety, humiliation, and emotional distress." Then, in a second phase of the trial on the afternoon of March 23, she received an additional $40 million in punitive damages.

Cosby's lawyer, Jennifer Bonjean, said in an email after the first award that they are unhappy with the decision and plan to appeal. She did not comment right away about the extra damages.

The jury discussed the case for about two days.

The decision came almost five years after Cosby was released from prison in Pennsylvania, when the state's highest court cancelled his criminal conviction over similar claims. He has settled some cases and paid money in others, but this is likely the largest amount he has had to pay.

Motsinger said the verdict is not just about her, but about finally being heard and holding Cosby responsible. She said she has carried the pain for more than 50 years, and it never goes away. She added that the jury believed her, which means a lot, and she hopes it encourages other survivors to speak out.

Motsinger used to work as a server at a restaurant in Sausalito near San Francisco. In her 2023 lawsuit, she said Cosby invited her to his comedy show in nearby San Carlos. They were both in their 30s at the time. She said he gave her wine and two pills she thought were aspirin, and she kept losing consciousness while two men put her into a limousine.

The lawsuit said she later woke up at home with most of her clothes missing and believed she had been drugged and raped by Cosby.

Cosby's lawyers argued in court that her claims are mostly based on guesses, saying she admits she does not know exactly what happened.

Her case moved quickly through the California courts, taking about two and a half years, while other cases against Cosby have been delayed.

Her lawyer, Jesse Creed, said they thanked the jury for carefully looking at the evidence and praised Motsinger for her courage in coming forward.

Cosby did not testify in the trial. One of the witnesses was Andrea Constand, a university sports official, he was convicted of assaulting in 2018. That conviction was later cancelled, and Cosby was released after spending nearly three years in prison.

Motsinger first made her claims anonymously in a 2005 case filed by Constand.

In 2022, another jury awarded $500,000 to a woman who said Cosby assaulted her at the Playboy Mansion when she was a teenager in 1975.

Motsinger's case is similar to accusations made by at least 60 women, including rape, sexual assault, and harassment, all of which Cosby denies.

Cosby, once a famous comedian and TV star known as "America's Dad," became one of the first celebrities convicted during the #MeToo era. However, his conviction was later overturned after a court ruled he had given self-incriminating testimony because he believed he would not be prosecuted.