Under the agreement, filed Monday, Haggis will pay just under $2 million to resolve the case. Court documents state that both sides “have amicably resolved all disputes between or among them.”
Breest accused the Oscar-winning director of raping her and forcing her to perform oral sex after a movie premiere in January 2013. She filed her lawsuit in December 2017, during the height of the #MeToo movement. In 2022, a New York jury sided with Breest and awarded her $10 million in damages. A judge later added $2.8 million to cover her legal fees, bringing the total judgment to more than $12 million, plus interest.
At trial, Breest testified that she reluctantly agreed to go to Haggis’ Manhattan apartment after the premiere but clearly rejected his sexual advances.
“I’m saying ‘No.’ I’m saying, ‘Stop.’ I’m saying it over and over,” she told the jury. “He looked like the devil. He seemed to like that I was saying no; that I was scared.”
Haggis, who was 59 at the time of the alleged incident, has consistently denied the allegations. He initially countersued Breest, claiming she was attempting to extort him. He also suggested the accusations were part of a plot linked to his public criticism of the Church of Scientology, though no evidence supporting that claim emerged.
Following the verdict, Haggis vowed to appeal and said the legal battle had drained his finances.
“I’ve spent all the money I have at my disposal,” he told reporters at the time. “I can’t live with lies like this. I would die clearing my name.”
However, his appeals were ultimately withdrawn in 2024. While Breest’s legal team pursued collection of the judgment, they were only able to recover about $61,000 as of March 2024. Settlement talks continued alongside those efforts, eventually leading to the new agreement.
The settlement brings an end to a years-long legal fight that became one of the most high-profile cases involving allegations against a major Hollywood filmmaker in the wake of #MeToo.
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