A jury ordered Academy Award-winning filmmaker Paul Haggis Thursday to pay at least US$7.5 million to a woman who accused him of rape in one of several #MeToo-era cases that have put Hollywood notables' behaviour on trial this fall. The jury also plans to award additional punitive damages.
A jury ordered Academy Award-winning filmmaker Paul Haggis Thursday to pay at least $7.5 million to a woman who accused him of rape in one of several .MeToo-era cases that have put Hollywood notables' behavior on trial this fall. Jurors also plan to award additional punitive damages.
Breest, 36, said Haggis then subjected her to unwanted advances and ultimately compelled her to perform oral sex and raped her despite her entreaties to stop. Haggis, 69, said the publicist was flirtatious and, while sometimes seeming "conflicted," initiated kisses and oral sex in an entirely consensual interaction. He said he couldn't recall whether they had intercourse.
All four cases followed the .MeToo upwelling of denunciations, disclosures and demands for accountability about sexual misconduct, triggered by October 2017 news reports on decades of allegations about Weinstein. Haggis denied all of the allegations. His defense, meanwhile, introduced jurors to several women -- including ex-wife and former longtime "Dallas" cast member Deborah Rennard -- who said the screenwriter-director took it in stride when they rebuffed his romantic or sexual overtures.
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