Academy Award–winning filmmaker Paul Haggis, known for the movies Crash and Million Dollar Baby, is being sued in a civil case for sexual assault in a two-week trial at the New York County Supreme Court in Manhattan.
Haleigh Breest, 36, a movie publicist, alleges that Haggis raped her nine years ago at his Soho apartment. In 2017, after being “shocked†when Haggis, 69, came out as an advocate for the Me Too movement, Breest decided she couldn’t look the other way anymore and filed this lawsuit. Haggis maintains that their “one-night stand†was consensual. Since Breest filed the lawsuit, five other accusers have come forward to allege they had also been assaulted by Haggis, including a 28-year-old British woman who had him arrested in June in Italy. Haggis spent 16 days under house arrest in Italy until the case was dismissed.
The jury won’t hear any reference to the Italian sexual-assault allegation because Judge Sabrina Kraus decided the Italian authorities “deemed insufficient†the evidence to pursue prosecution against him. Kraus will allow the testimony of four other women on Breest’s witness list who allege they were sexually assaulted by Haggis in incidents they claim occurred as far back as 1996. One woman, a publicist who was working on a television program, said Haggis raped her in 1996 during a late-evening meeting at her office. Another woman said Haggis tried to kiss her in 2008, when she was pitching an idea for a television show at his L.A. office, and said to her, “I need to be inside you,†before she fled. A third woman said Haggis assaulted her in 2015 after she met him at a film festival and forcibly kissed her in a taxi and restrained her when she tried to escape. (Vulture does not name alleged victims of sexual assault unless they choose to be identified, as Breest did.)
What allegation is at the center of the trial?
An alleged sexual assault that happened in 2013. Haggis and Breest both agree that, in January 2013, after an event for the film Side Effects on the Upper West Side, Breest accepted a ride from Haggis. Breest was 26 at the time and was working for the PR firm in charge of the event. Haggis was close to 60 and one of the event’s celebrity guests. The two had met several times previously at various film-industry events in the city.
What happened at Haggis’s Soho apartment in 2013?
Breest took the stand October 19 to detail her account. She said she had accepted a ride from Haggis after the event, and he proposed going to his Soho apartment for a drink. Breest said that, once inside the apartment, Haggis began making unwanted sexual advances. She said she felt trapped because the only way out of Haggis’s penthouse apartment was via a private elevator. She alleges Haggis brought her to a guest bedroom, where she said she was assaulted.
“Mr. Haggis forced her to give him oral sex and aggressively inserted his finger into her vagina,†Breest’s complaint states. “He told her her liked anal sex. Then, he raped her.â€
Haggis disputed that account and said Breest and he had developed a friendly and at times flirtatious relationship, and he described the evening as a “consensual one-night stand.â€
Haggis said he was shocked when, five years later, he was contacted by Breest’s attorney demanding $9 million and “threatening the imminent ‘urgent’ filing of a lurid draft complaint against him.†Haggis requested he be allowed to present evidence. Haggis said he went to the police and the Manhattan DA after receiving Breest’s draft complaint, which he refers to as an “extortion attempt,†but the DA declined to prosecute or pursue any action against either one of them. He subsequently filed a lawsuit against Breest for intentional infliction of emotional distress. Kraus ruled that the jury will not hear any information about presettlement discussions, Haggis’s later-dismissed lawsuit, or his efforts to convince the district attorney to prosecute Breest in relation to her settlement demands.
Why is this a civil case?
Breest is suing under New York’s Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Act, which gives victims the ability to sue up to seven years after an alleged incident that was motivated by gender and involved a serious risk of physical injury. Under the law, victims are not required to have filed or pursued any prior criminal complaint. (New York State passed a subsequent amendment to the law in May called the Adult Survivors Act.)
Who else is expected to testify?
Breest’s attorney plans to call four other women, listed only as Jane Doe(s), who allege they were also assaulted by Haggis. According to Breest, one of these women, described as a publicist working on a television show with Haggis, says she was also raped. One woman claimed he grabbed her and tried to kiss her against her will during a late-night pitch meeting at his Los Angeles office, and another claimed he forcibly kissed her in a taxi.
Haggis maintained that the womens’ claims were part of a coordinated press campaign against him. His legal team argued unsuccessfully to preclude their testimony.
Both sides say the impact of the lawsuit has been devastating.
Breest is seeking compensation for her physical injuries, pain and suffering, PTSD, humiliation, embarrassment, stress, anxiety, and loss of self-esteem and self-confidence. Meanwhile, Haggis said in court papers that, since the lawsuit was filed against him, he has been unable to work as a director or a producer. He said producers have repeatedly told him they would not work with him until he clears his name. Haggis said he has exhausted his savings and borrowed substantial funds to pay his legal fees.
What role, if any, does Scientology play in this case?
Haggis will also be allowed to bring up the organization he belonged to for more than 30 years, the Church of Scientology. Haggis said in his court papers that he is known “for voicing his negative views about Scientology, of which he was once a member, and has many times been on the receiving line of false accusations about him.†He claims that, after his “stormy exit†from the church, he was treated “as an enemy and defector,†according to his court papers, and he believes this “fabricated lawsuit is part of the Church of Scientology’s effort to destroy him.†Kraus ruled in pretrial papers that Haggis was allowed to present the jury with his theory.
When asked for comment about the case, the Church of Scientology denied any involvement. “The church has nothing to do with the claims against Haggis nor does it have any relation to his accusers,†it said via a spokesperson.