Andres Iglesias Rodriguez
Director Paul Haggis has been discovered liable on three counts of rape and sexual abuse after a former publicist accused him of raping her at his SoHo penthouse in 2013.
The jury awarded Haleigh Breest—who accused Haggis of violently raping her and forcing her to carry out oral intercourse—$7.5 million, with punitive damages to be determined at a later date. Haggis may probably take the stand once more on Monday for adversarial direct questioning by Breest’s legal professionals as a part of the punitive damages course of.
It’s unclear if Haggis’ authorized group will enchantment the courtroom’s choice. The Every day Beast has reached out to Haggis’ legal professionals for remark.
The New York Occasions reported that Haggis’ daughters cried as the decision was learn out, with the director turning to them and mouthing “it’s okay.”
Breest welcomed the decision in an announcement to The Every day Beast.
“I'm grateful that I had the chance to hunt justice and accountability in courtroom—and that the jury selected to observe the information—and believed me,” she mentioned. “The best supply of consolation by way of this 5 12 months authorized journey has been the help I felt from the ladies who bravely shared their very own tales and let me know I wasn’t alone.”
Her lawyer mentioned they had been grateful for the jury’s verdict—which got here at 4:40 p.m. on Friday after the jury deliberated for about six hours.
“We’re grateful the jury was cautious, methodical—they checked out all of the proof they usually did justice. It’s been a very long time to get justice and eventually we've it and we’re very blissful about that.”
Haggis’ lawyer Priya Chaudhry mentioned she was “upset and shocked by this verdict.”
“We weren't allowed to inform the jury so many important issues, akin to the truth that when Ms. Breest first demanded $9 million for her silence, Paul Haggis is the one who went to the District Legal professional and spoke to the police, not Ms. Breest, the truth that he sued her for extortion, and the truth that this lawsuit has financially ruined him,” she mentioned. “It was not possible for Mr. Haggis to get a good trial as soon as the decide allowed the statements of 4 different girls who by no means went to the police, by no means took any motion in opposition to him, and three of 4 by no means even got here into the courtroom.”
In the course of the civil trial, Haggis’ legal professionals claimed that the 36-year-old was an “absolute liar” and a “jealous lady” whose flirtatious crush on Haggis turned vindictive when he “politely rejected” her following a one-night stand. In closing arguments, Haggis’ protection counsel, Priya Chaudhry, known as Breest’s accusations “a blatant money seize.”
The previous Scientologist’s authorized group had additionally tried to argue that the Church of Scientology, which Haggis publicly defected from in 2009, had covertly manufactured the allegations and the case in opposition to the screenwriter in a clandestine effort to smear his identify and produce about his downfall.
Breest testified that Haggis pinned her in opposition to a wall inside his top-floor Manhattan loft, earlier than forcing her to carry out oral intercourse on him, claiming she gagged repeatedly as Haggis straddled her face. Breest, then 26, mentioned the Crash director then shoved her on a mattress and vaginally raped her.
“He’s attempting to tug my tights down and I’m attempting to tug them up,” Breest mentioned in courtroom. “He regarded just like the satan—he regarded completely completely different than I’d seen him earlier than.”
Paul Haggis together with his two Oscars for the film Crash.
Ian West - PA Photographs
Breest, who fielded roughly 2,500 questions below cross-examination, in keeping with her legal professionals, filed her lawsuit in opposition to Haggis in 2017—4 years after the alleged encounter. She advised jurors she’d been pushed to talk out after what she felt had been hypocritical tweets and feedback Haggis made in newspapers disavowing Hollywood titan and convicted intercourse offender Harvey Weinstein on the top of the #MeToo motion.
After Breest filed her go well with, 4 different girls got here ahead and accused Haggis of raping or making an attempt to sexually assault them in incidents that unfolded between 1996 and 2015. The 4 Jane Does, who're all Canadian, testified or had recorded depositions performed in courtroom through the trial. On the stand, Haggis denied any sexual misconduct involving the alleged victims.
Haggis, who has lengthy denied the sexual assault allegations, advised jurors the tryst with Breest was consensual. At instances weeping on the witness stand, Haggis described Breest as “cartoony” and “bashful” like “Betty Boop,” sending him “blended alerts” inside his penthouse suite within the moments main as much as the sexual encounter. Haggis, who admitted at trial he’d “all the time been a flirt”, testified he and Breest had traded “flirtatious” work-related emails for months previous to the alleged encounter.
He advised the courtroom Breest willingly gave him oral intercourse however denied having vaginal intercourse along with her. He was unable to say for sure whether or not or the place he might have ejaculated on the evening in query, regardless of seminal fluid belonging to Haggis being discovered within the inside crotch of tights Breest had worn the night of the incident.
Haggis additionally testified how the civil sexual assault case had virtually bankrupted his funds and destroyed his profession in filmmaking.
“For 5 years I’ve been unable to clear my identify,” Haggis advised jurors moments after taking the stand within the trial.
(L-R) Maria Bello, Paul Haggis, Moran Atias, Mila Kunis, and producer Michael Nozik attend the premiere of Third Particular person, Haggis’ final main film credit score.
Kevin Winter
Haggis’ final main credit score was screenwriting 2013’s romantic drama Third Particular person, which boasted a star-studded forged together with Liam Neeson, Mila Kunis, Adrien Brody, and Olivia Wilde. Haggis, who was working in Italy on the movie across the time of the encounter with Breest, had flown in from Rome hours earlier than the movie premiere after-party he attended on the evening in query.
The 2-time Oscar-winner testified his prolific profession in movie got here to a screeching halt as soon as Breest filed her lawsuit in 2017.
In June, Haggis was arrested in Italy after a British lady there accused the 69-year-old of raping her “for days” at a lodge. Haggis, who denied the allegations, finally spent 16 days detained in a lodge room on home arrest. An Italian decide later dismissed the case, citing a scarcity of proof.
His legal professionals on the time argued that the sufferer had sought a sexual encounter with Haggis in trade for a task in a James Bond movie. Haggis beforehand wrote 007 spy thrillers On line casino Royale and Quantum of Solace.
At his civil trial,Haggis’ counsel steered Breest had probably “fantasized” the encounter with the Canadian screenwriter.
“There are three ‘r’ phrases that occurred right here: rejection, remorse, and revenge,” Chaudhry advised the jury throughout her closing arguments on Nov. 9. “And none of those ‘r’ phrases are rape.”
She added: “They need you to suppose the place there’s smoke there’s hearth, however typically there’s only a smoke machine.”
Breest’s go well with had sought unspecified damages.
In the course of the case’s closing arguments, nonetheless, Ilann Maazel, Breest’s lawyer, painted Haggis as a serial predator who repeatedly lied to jurors on the witness stand.
“We've got to face the chilly, arduous fact—Paul Haggis is a monster,” Maazel advised the courtroom Wednesday. “He's a psychopath. He's crafty and deceitful and manipulative. He sexually assaulted 5 girls and he has the gall to stand up on that stand and play the sufferer.”
Movie director Paul Haggis (R) arrives at New York Supreme Courtroom for the primary day of his trial.
ANGELA WEISS
In September, Haggis received a pre-trial courtroom battle wherein the case’s decide, Sabrina Kraus, allowed the filmmaker to argue that the Church of Scientology had manufactured the allegations and the case in opposition to him.
“One can by no means inform the story of Paul Haggis with out speaking about Scientology,” Chaudhry additionally said in her closing arguments. “For many of his life—and for the remainder of his life—Scientology is completely hooked up to him like a darkish shadow. Scientology would be the first thought he has when somebody breaks into his house. It should all the time be round a darkish nook and that's all the time true for Paul. That's true for Mike Rinder. That's true for Leah Remini. You can't inform these folks’s tales with out speaking about Scientology.”
Haggis’ authorized group, who famous the burden of proof wasn’t on them to affirmatively show the Church of Scientology was in some way behind the case, nonetheless, failed to attract a definite connection between Scientology and the rape he was accused of after 4 weeks of testimony.
Breest and the 4 Jane Does frequently denied below oath any ties to the controversial faith. Her legal professionals described the authorized technique as a “sideshow” protection designed to distract jurors.
“We aren't on retainer for the Church of Scientology," Breest’s lawyer Zoe Salzman advised The Every day Beast final week. “By no means have been, by no means might be.”
The Church of Scientology has additionally firmly denied involvement in Haggis’ rape case.
“The Church has nothing to do with the claims in opposition to Haggis nor does it have any relation to his accusers,” Karin Pouw, a spokesperson for the Church, advised The Every day Beast in an October assertion.
Mike Rinder (L) and Leah Remini attend a screening of Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath.
Michael Kovac
Scientology whistleblowers, TV actress Leah Remini and former church govt Mike Rinder, each long-time associates of Haggis, testified at trial in protection of the embattled screenwriter in an effort to bolster his protection group’s Scientology claims.
Remini and Rinder, who co-hosted the Emmy-winning A&E sequenceLeah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath, testified that Haggis was one of many top-three enemies of the church.
Remini, who testified through a reside video hyperlink from Beverly Hills final week, dived into the Scientology lexicon, describing to jurors “suppressive individuals,” “disconnection,” and “truthful sport”—the alleged excessive follow of destroying any perceived enemies of the church by any means obligatory.
The King of Queens actress additionally spoke of actor Tom Cruise’s “deity”-like standing within the faith, which Haggis corroborated in his testimony, wherein he described the eccentric actor because the second-most vital individual in Scientology subsequent to David Miscavige.
Rinder, in an emailed assertion to The Every day Beast, known as Haggis’ responsible verdict a “travesty of justice.” He claimed the jury was left in the dead of night concerning Breest’s purported try and extract a $9 million throughout an out-of-court settlement from the Million Greenback Child author previous to the previous publicist submitting the civil rape go well with.
“I hope his legal professionals enchantment this choice,” Rinder mentioned Friday. “And I'm saddened to know that scientology is gloating within the wings.”