Paul Haggis was fined an additional $2.5 million in the civil rape case

A New York jury on Monday unanimously ordered Oscar winner Paul Haggis to pay $2.5 million in punitive damages after he was found responsible for raping a movie publicist.

A civil rape lawsuit was filed against the filmmaker by former film publicist Haleigh Breest. She claims the filmmaker forced her to perform oral sex on him and then raped her after they attended a film 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 damages. This brings the total damage to Haggis to $10 million.

More of diversity

In the hallway outside the courtroom, Haggis said he planned to appeal the verdict.

“I spent all the money I had,” he told reporters. “I canceled my pension insurance. I lived on loans to pay for this case, with a very naive belief in justice. Now we will see what the appeal court will say, because we will definitely appeal. I can’t live with lies like that. I would die if I cleared my name.”

While Haggis was not prosecuted in the case, defense attorney Priya Chaudhry argued that the filmmaker was “financially decimated” and would not have the resources to pay those damages. She denied that Haggis reached his financial peak in 2001 and was “not a Hollywood mogul.”

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

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

Haggis, best known for his work on the Oscar-winning films “Million Dollar Baby” and “Crash,” testified on the witness stand that he earned about $25 million over the course of his Hollywood career. Despite the major financial hurdles he faces, Haggis seemed optimistic about being able to earn “a handsome salary” in Hollywood again.

“Yes, if I clear my name,” Haggis said. “Not now, not until I clear my name. If I do that, yes.”

Plaintiff’s attorney Ilann Maazel highlighted to the jury how Haggis had publicly “bragged” about hiding his considerable fortune, estimating that the filmmaker now has over $3 million stored in his personal bank accounts. Haggis strongly denied this, arguing that his total net worth is less than $500,000.

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

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

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

During his first two divorce proceedings, first with Diane Christine Gettas in 1994 and Deborah Rennard in 2016, Haggis reportedly gave away more than half of his net worth, in addition to expensive legal fees. He changed the name of his staffing company from Paul Haggis, Inc. to Heretic Films “to have clean accounting” and to create a separate entity where he would not have to continually pay residuals to Gettas.

Haggis paid his lawyers a total of $1.8 million to defend him in court. Maazel pointed to an agreement Haggis had with Chaudhry’s company that said he would have to pay them double if he didn’t make his payments on time. He currently owes his lawyers more than $500,000. Rennard, his second ex-wife, is said to have borrowed $1 million about six months ago to pay his legal fees.

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

The best of diversity

Sign up for Variety’s newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Click here to read the full article.