Latest in Paul Haggis

UPDATED with punitive damages, 1:45 PM: The jury in Paul Haggis’ sexual assault civil trial today ordered him to pay $2.5 million in punitive damages to plaintiff Haleigh Breest. Added to the $7.5 million it awarded Thursday, when he was found liable, the Crash double Oscar winner now faces $10 million in…

UPDATED, 4:15 PM: Paul Haggis coaxed Haleigh Breest into his apartment in New York after a party in 2013 with the intent of having sex with her whether she consented to it or not, and then he raped her even as she repeatedly said no, a lawyer for Breest told jurors Wednesday. As the lawyer, Ilann…

UPDATED with more details: Leah Remini testified Monday that Paul Haggis, and not his accuser, is the real victim in his New York sexual assault civil trial.  The former King of Queens star and host of the Emmy-winning documentary series Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath – who, like Haggis…

UPDATED with more testimony, 4:33 PM: Paul Haggis finished testifying Friday in his New York sexual assault civil trial, saying he is still the "deeply broken person" he called himself in a 2011 New Yorker article about his exit from the Church of Scientology, but not a rapist.   RELATED: Paul Haggis Sexual A…

UPDATED with more testimony, 5:09 PM: Back on the witness stand Thursday, Paul Haggis denied sexually assaulting any of the four Jane Does who have testified in support of Haleigh Breest, the New York woman who is suing the Oscar-winning filmmaker and former Church of Scientology member for allegedly…

UPDATED with more details: Paul Haggis took the witness stand today in his Manhattan trial for sexual assault, and the Oscar-winning Crash filmmaker and former Church of Scientology member's first words when asked by his lawyer Priya Chaudhry how it felt to be testifying were: "I'm incredibly nervous…

Paul Haggis will testify Wednesday in the New York sexual assault civil case brought against him by Haleigh Breest, a lawyer for Haggis said Tuesday. The lawyer, Seth Zuckerman, said that Haggis' ex-wife, Deborah Rennard, is scheduled to go first, followed by Haggis.  Ten days of testimony have…

UPDATED with afternoon session: The oldest daughter of filmmaker Paul Haggis said Monday there is "circumstantial" evidence of a Church of Scientology plot against her father, who is facing a rape accusation in New York civil court, after he walked away from the religious organization and became a vocal…

A former high-ranking official in the Church of Scientology said Friday that the organization never forgets its enemies "until they are destroyed," and he said that filmmaker Paul Haggis, who quit Scientology, remains one of its biggest targets.  Mike Rinder, an Australian who was Scientology's top…

A psychologist who testified for Anthony Rapp in his failed case against fellow actor Kevin Spacey took the stand Friday, again for the plaintiff, in the New York sexual assault civil trial of filmmaker Paul Haggis.  As she did in the Rapp case earlier this month, Lisa Rocchio, a clinical and…

UPDATED with afternoon session: A friend of Haleigh Breest's who texted her in 2013 that filmmaker Paul Haggis had committed "borderline rape" against Breest dropped the "borderline" qualification in court on Thursday.  "This sounded to me like a non-consensual sexual assault that happened to my…

UPDATED with afternoon session: A woman who said filmmaker Paul Haggis "attacked" her in 2008 during a meeting in his office in Los Angeles said she stood up and backpedaled through an emergency exit door with her hands up and her eyes peeled on Haggis as he kept "trying to grab" her until she got to the…