NEW YORK — A jury ordered Academy Award-winning filmmaker Paul Haggis Thursday to pay at the very least $7.5 million to a lady who accused him of rape in one in every of a number of #MeToo-era circumstances which have put Hollywood notables’ conduct on trial this fall. The jury additionally determined that extra punitive damages must be awarded, however the quantity is to be determined later.
Veering from intercourse to red-carpet socializing to Scientology, the civil courtroom trial pitted Haggis, identified for writing greatest image Oscar winners “Million Greenback Child” and “Crash,” towards Haleigh Breest, a publicist who met him whereas working at film premieres within the early 2010s. After a screening afterparty in January 2013, he provided her a raise residence and invited her to his New York condominium for a drink.
Breest, 36, stated Haggis then subjected her to undesirable advances and finally compelled her to carry out oral intercourse and raped her regardless of her entreaties to cease. Haggis, 69, stated the publicist was flirtatious and, whereas generally seeming “conflicted,” initiated kisses and oral intercourse in a wholly consensual interplay. He stated he couldn’t recall whether or not they had intercourse.
Jurors sided with Breest, who stated she suffered psychological {and professional} penalties from her encounter with Haggis. She sued in late 2017.
“I believed I used to be getting a trip residence. I agreed to have a drink. What occurred by no means ought to have occurred. And it had nothing to do with me, and the whole lot to do with him and his actions,” she informed jurors.
