Canadian-born filmmaker Paul Haggis ordered to pay $7.5-million in rape suit
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’ behaviour on trial this fall. Jurors also plan to award additional punitive damages.
After a screening afterparty in January 2013, Haggis offered Breest a lift home and invited her to his New York apartment for a drink. While awarding her $7.5-million to compensate for suffering, the jury concluded that punitive damages should also be awarded. Jurors return Monday for more court proceedings to help them decide that amount.
Breest, in particular, said she decided to sue Haggis because his public condemnations of Weinstein infuriated her. Haggis denied all of the allegations. His defence, meanwhile, introduced jurors to several women – including ex-wife and former long-timecast member Deborah Rennard – who said the screenwriter-director took it in stride when they rebuffed his romantic or sexual overtures.
And jurors heard extensive testimony about the Church of Scientology, the religion founded by science fiction and fantasy author L. Ron Hubbard in the 1950s. Haggis was an adherent for decades before publicly renouncing, and denouncing, Scientology in 2009.
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