Oscar-winning filmmaker Paul Haggis has been ordered to pay at least $7.5m in damages after being found liable in a civil case of raping publicist Haleigh Breest.
Breest alleged that Haggis assaulted her after a film premiere in New York in January 2013.
She told a civil jury at a court in New York that Haggis offered her a lift home before inviting her to his apartment in Manhattan for a drink, where he allegedly raped her.
Haggis, 69, had insisted that the encounter was consensual. He has not faced criminal charges related to the case.
The jury sided with Breest, 36, and found Haggis liable for rape. The jury also plans to award additional punitive damages to be determined after a hearing on Monday.
The verdict came after a 15-day civil trial in Manhattan state court.
In June, Haggis was arrested in southern Italy on suspicion of aggravated sexual assault in a different case. Denying any wrongdoing, he spent 16 days under house arrest before the case was dismissed.
The filmmaker wrote and produced Million Dollar Baby, which won the Academy Award for best picture in 2005. A year later Crash, which he directed, won the same prize. Haggis co-wrote the Bond films Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace.
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