Paul Haggis, director and screenwriter of the Oscar-winning movie Crash, was ordered by a New York jury on Monday to pay an additional $2.5 million in punitive damages in a civil rape lawsuit, bringing the total amount he owes his accuser to $10 million. In a 2017 complaint, Haggis was accused by publicist Haleigh Breest of raping her in his Soho apartment four years earlier. Haggis, who claimed he had had a consensual affair with Breest, was found liable for sexual assault in the case last Thursday. The additional penalty comes after Haggis’ lawyer, Priya Chaudhry, told the jury that her client had been “financially decimated” by Breest’s lawsuit, and could not afford to pay the initial $7.5 million in compensatory damages for suffering. The jury also decided at that point that Breest was owed punitive damages. “There’s no way he can pay anything further,” Chaudhry added. In a hallway outside the courtroom, Haggis echoed his attorney’s words. “I’ve spent all the money I have at my disposal,” he told reporters while promising to appeal the decision: “I can’t live with lies like this. I would die clearing my name.”
