Photo: Salvatore Laporta/AP/Shutterstock
Paul Haggis, the Oscar-winning writer/director of 2004’sCrash, has been found liable of raping a publicist at his apartment back in 2013.
A New York jury made up of four men and two women reached the verdict Thursday, according toVarietyandThe New York Times, finding Haggis, 69, liable on all counts of rape and sexual abuse in the civil case. Haleigh Breest, the now-36-year-old plaintiff, was awarded at least $7.5 million for compensation.
“We are grateful and thankful. Justice was done today,” her attorney Ilann M. Maazel said in a statement to PEOPLE. “We are so proud of Haleigh. This is a great victory for her and for the entire #MeToo movement.”
Breestsued Haggis in 2017, alleging that, after aSide Effectsmovie premiere in January 2013, she accepted Haggis’s offer to give her a ride home, but instead he brought her back to his Manhattan apartment where he became “sexually aggressive.” Breest, then 26 years old, claimed he forced her to perform oral sex on him before raping her.
Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free weekly newsletterto get the biggest news of the week delivered to your inbox every Friday.
Paul Haggis.Daniele Venturelli/Getty
When Haggis took the stand in the three-week trial, he told the courtroom, according toDeadline, Breest “never gave me any indication it was anything other than consensual.” He testified, “I know I liked her. She liked me. We seemed to talk a lot. I was flirting, She seemed to be flirting, and there seemed to be a mutual attraction.”
Haggis’s attorney Chaudhry said in Wednesday’s closing arguments, perVariety, that the trial “is not about justice for” Breest, rather a “blatant cash grab.” Chaudhry said, “This lawsuit has utterly destroyed [Haggis' career], but to Haleigh, this case is about money. It’s a payday.”
During her testimony, Breest, according to theAssociated Press, recounted the assault saying she felt “like a trapped animal; there was nothing for me to do.” She recalled telling a few friends but she did not report it to the police at the time. The AP reported that Breest also testified that she worked with Haggis like normal afterward because “I didn’t want my work experience to be awkward. … I pretended like everything was normal. And it wasn’t.”
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go torainn.org.
source: people.com
