A California jury has ordered veteran comedian Bill Cosby to pay more than $19 million to a woman who says he drugged and raped her more than five decades ago, in a civil trial that ended Monday in Santa Monica.The jury’s verdict found Cosby liable for sexual assault and battery in a case brought by Donna Motsinger, who says the incident occurred in 1972 while she was working as a waitress in Sausalito, California. The award includes approximately $17.5 million for past mental suffering and $1.75 million for future suffering. Jurors also determined that Cosby acted with “malice, oppression, or fraud”, which could have led to more punitive damages at a later stage.Motsinger, now 80, told the court that she met Cosby when he was a customer at the restaurant where she worked. According to her complaint, Cosby later invited her to a performance and gave her a glass of wine during the ride to the show. She said she began feeling unwell and was given aspirin, which left her faint and weak. The next thing she remembered, she said, was waking up partially naked in her home. But Cosby’s lawyers denied the allegations. She said she did not remember any sexual contact with Motsinger and that if any contact had occurred, it was consensual. He also denied that he gave medicines to Motsingar without his permission.The civil lawsuit began decades after the alleged incident, made possible by changes to California law that extended the time period in which victims could bring sexual assault cases to court. The decision comes as part of a series of legal challenges and lawsuits that Cosby has faced over the years related to sexual misconduct allegations.Cosby, 88, was once one of America’s most successful comedians and a household name with his long-running television show. But his reputation was deeply damaged by numerous allegations of sexual harassment over several decades. In 2018, he was convicted of aggravated indecent assault in Pennsylvania and sentenced to prison, but was released in 2021 after that conviction was overturned by the state Supreme Court due to prosecutorial misconduct.In addition to the Motsinger case, Cosby has also faced other civil judgments. In 2022, another jury in California awarded $500,000 to a different defendant in a case involving allegations dating back to the 1970s.After several hours of deliberations, the Santa Monica jury reached its verdict on Monday and returned an award of $19.25 million. While the current figure includes compensation for Motsinger’s suffering, more punitive damages could be determined in the next phase of the trial after the jury concludes that Cosby acted with malice.The decision marks a big moment in a long legal path for Motsinger, who has sought justice for more than 50 years. The award may provide financial compensation for his suffering, although it does not erase the decades that have passed since the events he describes.Cosby’s legal team has indicated plans to appeal the verdict, meaning the case could continue in the courts for some time before the final outcome is known.