Paul Haggis Fined Additional $2.5 Million in Punitive Damages in Civil Rape Trial

Antonio Ferme
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A New York jury on Monday unanimously ordered Oscar-winning filmmaker Paul Haggis to pay $2.5 million in punitive damages after finding him liable for raping a film publicist.

A civil rape lawsuit was filed against the filmmaker by former film publicist Haleigh Breest, who alleges the filmmaker forced her to perform oral sex on him and then raped her after they attended a movie premiere in 2013. On Friday, the jury unanimously found Haggis liable on all three counts of rape and sexual abuse. They awarded the plaintiff at least $7.5 million in compensatory damages. That brings Haggis’s total damages to $10 million.

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In the hallway outside of the court room, Haggis said he planned to appeal the verdict.

“I’ve spent all the money I have at my disposal,” he told reporters. “I’ve gutted my pension plan. I’ve lived on loans in order to pay for this case in a very naive belief in justice. Now we’ll see what the appeals court will say, because we will absolutely appeal. I can’t live with lies like this. I would die clearing my name.”

While Haggis did not face criminal charges in the case, defense attorney Priya Chaudhry argued that the filmmaker has been “decimated financially” and will not have the funds to pay off these damages. She contested that Haggis reached his financial peak in 2001 and is “not some Hollywood mogul.”

“Paul Haggis will not be able to pay the $7.5 million in compensatory damages,” Chaudhry argued during her closing statement. “No one is going to hire him for the one thing he’s done for his whole life besides being a mover.”

The left side of the lower Manhattan courthouse, which was previously filled with family members and other supporters of Haggis, was empty on Monday.

Haggis, best known for his work on Oscar best picture winners “Million Dollar Baby” and “Crash,” testified on the stand that he’d earned approximately $25 million over the course of his Hollywood career. Despite the major financial hurdles he faces, Haggis seemed optimistic that could once again earn “a substantial salary” in Hollywood.

“Yes, when I clear my name,” Haggis said. “Not now, not until I clear my name. When I do, yes.”

Plaintiff attorney Ilann Maazel emphasized to the jury how Haggis has publicly “boasted” about hiding his significant assets, and estimated that the filmmaker has over $3 million stored in his personal bank accounts today. Haggis adamantly denied this, arguing that his total net worth is less than $500,000.

“It’s a couple hundred thousand of dollars, maybe. Maybe not,” Haggis said. “I’m not an accountant. I don’t know how you calculate net worth.”

While Haggis said he “can’t work as a director or a producer” because of this sexual assault lawsuit, he mentioned that he’s able to work as a writer in small capacities.

Haggis was pressed on how much money he earned writing for various television series, including the eight seasons of “Walker Texas Ranger” he co-created with Leslie Greif. He said he was paid a total of $1 million for the spin-off series “Sons of Thunder,” which CBS first aired in 1999. Haggis said that the best weekly fee he ever received as a writer was for “Casino Royale,” which introduced the world to Daniel Craig’s rendition of James Bond. He was paid $250,000 per week for a month and a half, which totaled $1.5 million.

During his first two divorce proceedings, first with Diane Christine Gettas in 1994 and Deborah Rennard in 2016, Haggis allegedly surrendered over half of his net worth on top of expensive legal fees. He changed the name of his personal service corporation from Paul Haggis, Inc. to Heretic Films “to have clean accounting” and a separate entity where he doesn’t have to keep paying residuals to Gettas.

Haggis paid his lawyers a total of $1.8 million to defend him in court. Maazel highlighted an arrangement Haggis had with Chaudhry’s firm where he would have to pay them to double if he didn’t make his payments on time. He currently owes more than $500,000 to his lawyers. Rennard, his second ex-wife, allegedly loaned $1 million about six months ago to help pay for his legal fees.

“I basically emptied my pension account and just sold everything I could and then economized,” Haggis said. “This is going to sound ridiculous — I canceled my cable, I canceled my Hulu, I use my daughter’s HBO, I use my other daughter’s Netflix.”

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