Filmmaker Paul Haggis ordered to pay further $2.5M in rape swimsuit

Oscar-winning screenwriter Paul Haggis was ordered Monday to pay an extra US$2.5 million in damages in a rape lawsuit, bringing the whole to $10 million for a lady who mentioned he sexually assaulted her practically a decade in the past.

Whereas accuser Haleigh Breest’s attorneys known as the decision simply, Haggis insisted that he had been falsely accused and was financially ruined by combating the civil case. He vowed to enchantment.

“I can’t dwell with lies like this. I’ll die clearing my title,” he mentioned as he left court docket.

Breest, a publicist, mentioned Haggis raped her and compelled her to carry out oral intercourse in his New York condominium on Jan. 31, 2013. He says they’d a consensual encounter.

The jury sided with Breest final week, awarded her $7.5 million in compensatory damages for struggling and determined that she was additionally due punitive damages. Jurors returned to court docket Monday to listen to testimony about Haggis’ funds and determine how way more he’d must pay.

They received a fast course in film financing as Haggis was questioned about his earnings on such movies as Oscar finest image winners Crash and Million Greenback Child, and the James Bond flicks On line casino Royale and Quantum of Solace.

Whereas explaining the complexities of screenwriting compensation, he estimated that all through his 4 many years in TV and flicks, he’s made as a lot as $25 million — earlier than taxes, brokers’ and different representatives’ charges and asset splits together with his two ex-wives.

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The 69-year-old filmmaker mentioned throughout Monday’s listening to that he’d suffered varied monetary losses through the years — together with the destruction of a poorly insured residence within the 1994 Northridge earthquake — however that Breest’s lawsuit wiped him out. He mentioned his authorized payments topped $2.6 million, whereas his profession abruptly dried up.

“I’ve spent all the cash I’ve at my disposal. I’ve gutted my pension plan, I’ve lived on loans, as a way to pay for this case in a really naïve perception in justice,” he mentioned exterior court docket.

Breest’s attorneys questioned Haggis’ claims of being broke.

“Nothing Paul Haggis says will be trusted,” lawyer Ilann Maazel mentioned.

After the decision, he mentioned the jury “did the proper factor.” Jurors left court docket with out commenting.

Breest, 36, mentioned she suffered each skilled and psychological hurt from what occurred after she accepted an invite for a drink at his condominium following a film premiere.

She declined to remark Monday. In an announcement after the preliminary verdict Thursday, she mentioned she appreciated “the chance to hunt justice and accountability in court docket — and that the jury selected to comply with the information — and believed me.”

She sued for unspecified damages. Haggis wasn’t criminally charged within the matter.

The Related Press usually doesn’t establish individuals who say they’ve been sexually assaulted except they arrive ahead publicly, as Breest has executed.

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