A jury in California has ordered Bill Cosby to pay $19.

3m) in damages to a former waitress after finding he drugged and sexually assaulted her while taking her to one of his shows more than five decades ago.

Donna Motsinger said the former star gave her wine and a pill that left her incapacitated after picking her up at her home in a limousine in 1972.

Cosby, 88, has denied Motsinger's allegations, along with similar claims in a string of civil and criminal cases filed by dozens of women.

He was freed from prison in Pennsylvania in 2021 nearly three years into a sentence for sex assault after his conviction was thrown out on a technicality.

The jury in the Santa Monica case could award even more in punitive damages that they have yet to determine.

Motsinger, now 84, used to work as a waitress at a restaurant called the Trident in Sausalito, near San Francisco, that was a haunt for celebrities, including Cosby.

She alleged in her lawsuit that Cosby invited her to one of his stand-up comedy shows and after picking her up to drive her to the gig he gave her a pill that she thought was aspirin, according to the court papers.

"Next thing she knew, she was going in and out of consciousness," her legal action said, according to the Los Angeles Times.

"The last thing Ms Motsinger recalls were flashes of light. "

The filing said she woke up at home naked except for her underwear and "she knew she had been drugged and raped by Bill Cosby". Cosby's lawyers rejected the allegation, arguing in court filings that Motsinger "freely admits that she has no idea what happened", reports AP news agency.

The comedian enjoyed huge fame in the 1980s and 90s with his sitcom The Cosby Show, but his reputation was shattered after dozens of women came forward with allegations of rape, sexual harassment and sexual misconduct from as early as the 1960s.

He has maintained all of the encounters were consensual

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