Paul Haggis has reached a settlement with a former movie publicist who won a $10 million rape verdict against him in 2022.
Former publicist Hayley Brest accused the Crash director of raping her and forcing her to perform oral sex after the film premiered in January 2013. Mr. Brist won a $10 million judgment in a New York court case. A judge later added $2.8 million in attorney fees, and interest has been accruing on the total judgment ever since.
Haggis will pay just under $2 million under the settlement, according to stipulations filed Monday. The document states that the parties have “amicably resolved all disputes between or among them.”
Brest filed charges against Haggis in December 2017, at the height of the #MeToo movement. He then said he was furious when he saw Haggis criticize Harvey Weinstein, who had been exposed as a serial sexual abuser a few weeks earlier.
Haggis maintains his innocence and initially filed a lawsuit accusing Brest of extortion. Mr. Haggis, a prominent former Scientologist, continued to claim that the allegations were part of a plot to punish him for speaking out against the church, but no evidence of this has been produced.
At trial, Brest testified that she reluctantly agreed to go to Haggis’ apartment in Manhattan after the premiere, but flatly refused his sexual advances.
“I’m saying, ‘No.’ I’m saying, ‘Stop.’ I say it again and again,” she testified. “He was like the devil. He seemed to like that I said no, that I was scared.”
Haggis was 59 years old at the time. Brest was 26 years old.
After the trial, Haggis vowed to appeal and said he had depleted his account fighting the case.
“We have used up all the money we have at our disposal,” he told reporters. “I can’t keep telling lies like this. I’m willing to die to clear my name.”
Haggis’ appeal was withdrawn in 2024. Meanwhile, Brest’s lawyers sought to collect the judgment while negotiating a settlement. As of March 2024, only $61,000 had been successfully collected.
