Paul Haggis, a Canadian screenwriter, producer and director, is scheduled to give testimony in a civil sexual assault case in New York on November 2, according to Deadline.
During the #MeToo movement, Haggis was one of the men in Hollywood who were accused of rape, sexual harassment, or other sexual misconduct. According to Variety, a woman by the name of Haleigh Breest sued him in December 2017.
In response, Haggis refuted all charges and filed a countersuit, claiming Breest was attempting to settle with him for $9 million but the court dismissed his case. Breest has charged Haggis with forced unprotected oral sex and sexual contact on multiple occasions.
The COVID-19 outbreak earlier caused a delay in Breest’s lawsuit.
Haggis will testify after Deborah Rennard, the screenwriter’s ex-wife, according to the Oscar-winning actor’s attorney Seth Zuckerman. There have been ten days of testimony up to this point. Haggis was detained in Ostuni, Southern Italy, in June of this year on suspicion of sexual assault.
Four additional women had already testified that Haggis had sexually assaulted them in various situations between 1996 and 2015.
Haggis, a well-known figure in Hollywood who has won two Oscars and two Emmys, has insisted that all of his relationships with women were consensual and that he never forced them to have relations with him.
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