4 girls who accused Paul Haggis of sexual assault will likely be allowed to testify at his upcoming civil trial – however any point out of the director’s latest rape arrest in Italy will likely be barred, a New York choose has dominated.
Manhattan Supreme Court docket Justice Sabrina Kraus can be permitting Haggis to current proof he claims will show the lawsuit from publicist Haleigh Breest — which works earlier than a jury subsequent month — was concocted by the Church of Scientology.
The Oscar-winning “Crash” filmmaker and Breest have been duking it out in courtroom since 2017, when she filed go well with claiming he raped her throughout a one-night stand on Jan. 31, 2013. The case is ready to go to trial on Oct. 11, and the 2 sides at the moment are arguing over whether or not jurors can hear sure proof at trial.
Kraus, in a ruling on Friday, stated she wouldn’t enable Haggis’ June arrest in Italy on accusations of rape to come back in at trial because the “allegations haven't been sustained and had been deemed inadequate to maintain [Haggis’] below arrest.”
The choose, nevertheless, stated she would enable 4 different girls who’ve accused Haggis of sexual assault to testify within the case, over objections from his attorneys. The case rises and falls on whether or not Breest consented to their sexual encounter – and the opposite girls’s testimony may give weight to her claims that she didn’t, Kraus dominated.
She cited the same appellate courtroom ruling that allowed different girls to testify in opposition to Harvey Weinstein at his 2020 legal trial in Manhattan, although he wasn’t charged over their allegations. Weinstein is at the moment interesting that ruling with New York’s highest courtroom.
The choose can even enable Haggis to herald proof that he says will show that the Church of Scientology is behind Breest’s allegations in opposition to him. Haggis, who left Scientology in 2009 after 30 years, has claimed the church has a “vendetta” in opposition to him for talking out about it.
Kraus discovered that the jury is entitled to listen to his protection argument that the church was “searching for to embroil Haggis in ruinous, false allegations relating to girls previous to Breest’s allegations,” the ruling reads.
Haggis, 69, doesn't deny that he slept with Breest however he claims the encounter was consensual.
Haggis claims that due to his efforts to reveal the church, it dug up dust on him, persuaded girls to deliver false accusations of sexual misconduct in opposition to him — and that Breest’s case is a part of that marketing campaign to destroy his popularity.
“The entire world is aware of that Scientology has been hellbent on destroying Paul Haggis from the second he spoke out in opposition to them,” Haggis’ lawyer Priya Chaudhry instructed The Submit. “The Italian courts shortly discovered that the accuser in Italy fully lacked credibility. We anticipate that a New York jury will do the identical.”
Breest’s authorized group stated in a press release: “Over Paul Haggis’ objection, Choose Kraus dominated that a number of different girls can testify that Haggis assaulted them, too.
“Their highly effective sworn testimony will likely be damning to Haggis and stands in stark distinction to the whole lack of proof for Haggis’s sham scientology conspiracy principle.”
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