Paul Haggis Must Face 'Hate Crime' Claim in Rape Suit

It has turned out to be a precedent-setting victory for rape accuser, Haleigh Breest as the lady has managed to have accused director, Paul Haggis face hate crime claim in rape suit on Thursday in New York Appeals Court.

Owing to the same, Breest will be able to proceed with the claim on the Academy-award winning director that he committed a gender-motivated hate crime under the Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Law (VGM). According to The Hollywood Reporter, last year, New York Supreme Court Judge Robert Reed allowed Breest to move forward in her lawsuit, despite challenges to whether she sued in a timely manner. Notably, the judge also OK'd a separate claim alleging that the rape was an act of gender-motivated violence.

Haggis was represented by Christine Lepera, an attorney who is fighting for Dr. Luke (Lukasz Gottwald) in a dispute with Kesha Rose Sebert. In that case, the pop star filed counterclaims against Dr. Luke similarly alleging that he raped her and that the alleged act was gender-motivated violence under the VGM. The counterclaim didn't survive. In April 2016, a New York judge ruled, "Every rape is not a gender-motivated hate crime."

Judge Reed came to a different conclusion in the legal war between Breest and Haggis, and that's what led to appellate review. On Thursday, New York appellate judge Peter Moulton writes for the majority and clears up some ambiguity.

"Rape and sexual assault are, by definition, actions taken against the victim without the victim's consent," states the decision. "Without consent, sexual acts such as those alleged in the complaint are a violation of the victim's bodily autonomy and an expression of the perpetrator's contempt for that autonomy. Coerced sexual activity is dehumanizing and fear-inducing. Malice or ill will based on gender is apparent from the alleged commission of the act itself. Animus inheres where consent is absent."

The trial is currently scheduled for February.