Oscar-winning Crash director Paul Haggis to pay $11m over rape claim

New York: Crash director and James Bond screenwriter Paul Haggis has failed to convince a civil jury that the Church of Scientology was behind a rape allegation against him.

Haggis, 69, claimed the accusation came in retaliation for his leaving the church but on Friday (Saturday AEDT) he was ordered to pay $US7.5 million to Haleigh Breest, who sued him over an alleged sexual assault after a party nine years ago.

“Crash” writer/director Paul Haggis holds up his two Oscars in 2006.Credit: AP

Haggis, who co-wrote Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace starring Daniel Craig, and Million Dollar Baby, had been a prominent scientologist member for 35 years, but left in 2009 and became an outspoken critic of the church.

The Canadian, who also directed the 2004 Oscar-winning film Crash, was questioned in the trial about his allegations but was forced to acknowledge there was no evidence linking Breest to Scientology, but testified: “These people don’t leave their fingerprints”.

Breest’s lawyers called it “a shameful and unsupported conspiracy theory”. The church has rigorously denied any connection.

Breest, 36, told the New York court that Haggis offered her a lift home after a premiere and invited her to his Manhattan apartment for a drink in 2013.

Canadian-born film director Paul Haggis, centre, arrives with his lawyer at Brindisi law court in southern Italy in June after he was arrested and accused of sexual assault which he denied.Credit: AP

She said Haggis then subjected her to unwanted advances and ultimately compelled her to perform oral sex and raped her despite her pleas for him to stop.

Haggis said she was flirtatious and while sometimes seeming “conflicted”, initiated kisses and oral sex in an entirely consensual interaction. He could not recall if they had full sex.

In text messages shown to the court from Breest to a friend the day after the encounter, however, she said that Haggis had been “rough and aggressive” and that she had “kept saying no”.

“I was like a trapped animal,” she added. Judge Sabrina Kraus allowed four other women who accused Haggis of sexual misconduct, but never took action, to testify against him.

Haggis’ attorney, Priya Chaudhry, said the trial was not fair because the judge allowed statements from other women who accused Haggis but never took action against him.

“They used this to distort the truth, assassinate Mr Haggis’ character, paint him as a monster, and use a ‘where there’s smoke, there’s fire’ strategy,” Chaudhry said in a statement, Reuters reported.

Breest said she decided to sue Haggis because his public condemnation of disgraced Hollywood director Harvey Weinstein infuriated her.

“It is the definition of hypocrisy. This man raped me and he is presenting himself as a champion of women to the world,” she said.

Haggis’s lawyers argued that Breest was lying about the encounter to extract money from the filmmaker. They pointed to a text in which she told a friend “I need to get something out of this at least”.

Jurors sided with Breest, who said she suffered psychological and professional consequences from the encounter. The jury also decided that extra punitive damages should be awarded but did not set an amount.

“What happened never should have happened,” Breest testified. “And it had nothing to do with me and everything to do with him and his actions.”

The Telegraph, London