Jury Says Paul Haggis Raped Woman After Film Premiere - The New York Times

A assemblage connected Thursday recovered the Oscar-winning filmmaker Paul Haggis liable for raping a erstwhile movie manufacture publicist successful his Manhattan flat successful 2013, ordering him to wage her astatine slightest $7.5 million.

Mr. Haggis — who wrote “Million Dollar Baby” and co-wrote and directed “Crash,” consecutive champion representation winners — met the plaintiff successful the civilian trial, Haleigh Breest, portion she worked astatine movie premiere events successful New York. In a suit filed successful the aboriginal months of the #MeToo movement, she alleged that aft 1 specified event, Mr. Haggis invited her to his loft successful SoHo, wherever helium forced her to springiness him oral sex, penetrated her digitally and proceeded to rape her.

Mr. Haggis, 69, who besides co-wrote 2 James Bond movies in the 2000s, asserted that the intersexual brushwood with Ms. Breest was consensual. He does not look transgression charges successful the case.

Ms. Breest, 36, brought her assertion nether the Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Act, which the New York City Council passed successful 2000. Lawyers for Mr. Haggis sought to get the assertion thrown out, but an appeals tribunal ruled that the instrumentality could beryllium utilized to prosecute intersexual battle claims adjacent if determination was nary different grounds the suspect had shown hatred of the victim’s gender.

After deliberating for astir six hours astir whether the intersexual brushwood was coerced oregon consensual, a six-person assemblage recovered that the grounds weighed successful favour of Ms. Breest, who testified that she felt unit to spell to Mr. Haggis’s flat that nighttime due to the fact that of his stature successful Hollywood.

After the verdict was read, Mr. Haggis looked implicit astatine his daughters and mouthed, “It’s OK.” Outside the courtroom, Ms. Breest responded with 2 words: “Very grateful.”

Ms. Breest was awarded $7.5 cardinal successful compensatory damages by the jurors, who indispensable instrumentality to tribunal connected Monday to find punitive damages.

“I americium grateful that I had the accidental to question justness and accountability successful tribunal — and that the assemblage chose to travel the facts — and believed me,” Ms. Breest added successful a connection aft the verdict.

Mr. Haggis’s pb lawyer, Priya Chaudhry, said successful a connection that the defence was “disappointed and shocked” by the verdict, accusing the plaintiff’s lawyers of portraying Mr. Haggis “as a monster” and lamenting the judge’s determination to let grounds from 4 different women who person accused Mr. Haggis of intersexual misconduct.

“No 1 could person had a just proceedings successful that courtroom nether those circumstances,” Ms. Chaudhry said. “This is simply a shameful exploitation of the #MeToo question wherever governmental sentiment trumps facts.”

Earlier this year, successful a abstracted case, Mr. Haggis was arrested successful Italy connected intersexual battle charges and held successful custody astatine a edifice for much than 2 weeks until a justice ordered his release. He has denied the charges, and prosecutors person not concluded their investigation.

During a 15-day proceedings successful Manhattan Supreme Court that included details from the nightlife of Hollywood’s elite and Mr. Haggis’s erstwhile beingness successful the Church of Scientology, some Mr. Haggis and Ms. Breest testified extensively astir their recollections of the nighttime successful question.

Ms. Breest’s lawyers sought to person jurors that her communications soon aft the intersexual brushwood made wide that she had viewed it arsenic an assault. The defence focused connected messages she sent that took a much lighthearted tone, arsenic good arsenic others successful which she expressed a tendency to spot Mr. Haggis again and initiated connection implicit email.

In substance messages from Ms. Breest to a person the time aft the encounter, she said that Mr. Haggis had been “rough and aggressive” and that she had “kept saying no.”

Of the 4 different women whom Judge Sabrina Kraus allowed to contiguous testimony, 1 accused Mr. Haggis of raping her successful the 1990s. The others alleged that Mr. Haggis made aggressive, unwanted intersexual advances. One pistillate said helium had groped her breasts arsenic she tried to escape.

In his testimony, Mr. Haggis denied the rape and groping allegations and immoderate inappropriate oregon assertive behaviour toward the women. The defence argued that Ms. Breest was lying astir the brushwood to extract wealth from the filmmaker during a clip of heightened nationalist sensitivity astir intersexual battle allegations, pointing to a substance successful which she told a friend, “I request to get thing retired of this astatine least.”

Much of the proceedings focused connected the conflicting accounts of Jan. 31, 2013, erstwhile Ms. Breest was moving arsenic a freelance publicist astatine the premiere of the movie “Side Effects.” Mr. Haggis, a impermanent astatine the event, offered her a thrust location and past invited her implicit to his flat for a drink, she testified. When she suggested going to a barroom instead, helium insisted they spell to his flat and she agreed, recalling during the proceedings that she told him, “Just truthful you know, I’m not sleeping successful SoHo tonight.”

Ms. Breest testified that astatine his apartment, Mr. Haggis forcibly kissed her and aboriginal took disconnected her tights contempt her protests. After helium forced her into oral enactment and raped her, she said, she fell dormant earlier waking up aboriginal successful the morning.

“I thought I was getting a thrust home!” Ms. Breest texted her person that day, to which the person responded, “Naive !!!”

Mr. Haggis testified that helium and Ms. Breest had flirted astatine manufacture events successful the months earlier the encounter, interactions that she explained were conscionable her “being nice.” He acknowledged that aft helium archetypal kissed her successful his apartment, she repeatedly said, “No, I shouldn’t,” but helium described her demeanor arsenic “teasing” and “a small similar Betty Boop.”

Because helium felt similar helium was getting “mixed signals,” helium testified, helium made wide to her that she should not bash thing she did not privation to do. According to his testimony, Ms. Breest stayed and was “passionate” successful the bedroom, wherever she initiated oral sex.

“She ne'er gave maine immoderate denotation that it was thing different than consensual,” Mr. Haggis testified.

Early successful the ineligible process, Mr. Haggis denied successful tribunal papers that helium had intersexual intercourse with Ms. Breest, earlier aboriginal saying helium did not callback having intercourse.

Ms. Chaudhry questioned him connected his suspicion that the Church of Scientology was down each of the intersexual misconduct allegations against him, highlighting a enactment from a 2011 New Yorker article astir the filmmaker’s interruption from the church: “My stake is that, wrong 2 years, you’re going to work thing astir maine successful a ungraded that looks similar it has thing to bash with the church.”

Mr. Haggis, who acknowledged connected the basal that determination was nary grounds linking Ms. Breest to Scientology, was a salient subordinate of the religion earlier becoming an outspoken critic. “These radical don’t permission their fingerprints,” helium testified. (Ms. Breest vehemently denies immoderate connection, arsenic did the religion successful a statement.)

How Ms. Breest and Mr. Haggis reacted to their brushwood was a cardinal portion of their testimony, with his lawyers pointing to messages that they said implied she did not initially presumption the brushwood arsenic forced.

“I don’t attraction excessively overmuch I conscionable anticipation I don’t present person diseases!!” Ms. Breest texted a person astir the encounter. On the witnesser stand, Ms. Breest elaborated connected her thoughts astatine the time: “I cared a large deal. I was minimizing.”

Ms. Breest, who kept the tights she wore that nighttime arsenic imaginable evidence, visited Planned Parenthood astir a period aft the brushwood to get tested for sexually transmitted diseases, she testified. According to a questionnaire she filled retired astatine the visit, which her lawyers showed the jury, Ms. Breest marked “yes” erstwhile asked if she had ever been forced into a intersexual enactment — which, she testified, referred to her brushwood with Mr. Haggis.

A psychotherapist who had begun treating Ms. Breest successful June 2017, respective months earlier she filed the lawsuit, testified that Ms. Breest recounted the nighttime to her during therapy, sharing that Mr. Haggis had raped her aft she agreed to person a portion with him, reasoning astatine archetypal that it was a “friendly networking opportunity.”

Ms. Breest, whose pb lawyer successful the lawsuit was Ilann M. Maazel, said successful tribunal that she had not gone to the constabulary due to the fact that she was acrophobic that they mightiness “mess thing up.”

Because it was a civilian trial, the jurors did not request to find beyond a tenable uncertainty that Mr. Haggis had raped Ms. Breest; they were asked if Ms. Breest had proven her assertion with the greater value of the evidence. Under the rules of the authorities court, 5 retired of the six jurors needed to hold connected a verdict.

Ms. Breest began her ineligible lawsuit aft seeing Mr. Haggis denounce the movie shaper Harvey Weinstein erstwhile accounts of his intersexual harassment and maltreatment were published successful The New York Times.

“It is the explanation of hypocrisy,” Ms. Breest testified successful respect to Mr. Haggis. “This antheral raped maine and helium is presenting himself arsenic a champion of women.”