Filmmaker Paul Haggis told to pay US$10M total in rape suit

NEW YORK -

Oscar-winning screenwriter Paul Haggis was ordered Monday to pay an additional US$2.5 million in damages in a rape lawsuit, bringing the total to US$10 million for a woman who said he sexually assaulted her nearly a decade ago.

Jurors decided on the additional, punitive damages after hearing testimony about Haggis’ finances.

The same jury had already found that Haggis raped publicist Haleigh Breest and forced her to perform oral sex in his New York apartment on Jan. 31, 2013. He says they had a consensual encounter.

Breest brought a civil lawsuit. Haggis wasn’t criminally charged in the matter.

The jury sided with Breest last week, awarded her $7.5 million in compensatory damages for suffering and decided that she was also due punitive damages. Jurors returned to court Monday to work out the amount.

They got a quick course in movie financing as Haggis was questioned about his earnings on such films as Oscar best picture winners “Crash” and “Million Dollar Baby,” and the James Bond flicks “Casino Royale” and “Quantum of Solace.”

While explaining the complexities of screenwriting compensation, he estimated that throughout his four decades in TV and movies, he’s made as much as $25 million — before taxes, agents’ and other representatives’ fees and asset splits with his two ex-wives.

The 69-year-old filmmaker said during the trial that he’d suffered various financial losses over the years — including the destruction of a poorly insured home in the 1994 Northridge earthquake — but that Breest’s lawsuit wiped him out. He said his legal bills topped $2.6 million, while his career abruptly dried up.

Except for some relatively small gigs rewriting scripts, Haggis said, “I will never work as a writer until I clear my name.”

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

“Nothing Paul Haggis says can be trusted,” attorney Ilann Maazel said.

Breest, 36, said she suffered both professional and psychological harm from what happened after she accepted an invitation for a drink at his apartment following a movie premiere.

The Associated Press generally doesn’t identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they come forward publicly, as Breest has done.

Resources for sexual assault survivors in Canada

If you or someone you know is struggling with sexual assault or trauma, the following resources are available to support people in crisis:

If you are in immediate danger or fear for your safety, you should call 911.

A full list of sexual assault centres in Canada that offer information, advocacy and counselling can be found at ReeseCommunity.com. Resources in your community can be found by entering your postal code. 

Helplines, legal services and locations that offer sexual assault kits in Alberta, B.C., Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Quebec, Ontario and Nova Scotia can be found here.

National Residential School Crisis Line: [phone]

24-hour crisis line: 416 597 8808 

Canadian Human Trafficking Hotline: [phone] 

Trans Lifeline: [phone]

Sexual misconduct support for current or former members of the Armed Forces: [phone]

Read about your rights as a victim here.