London, Ont. city council moving forward with motion to rename Paul Haggis Park
Global News
A U.S. jury ordered the London-born film director to pay at least US$7.5 million in compensatory damages last week to a woman who accused him of rape.
Following a renewed push to rename Paul Haggis Park in London, Ont., city council is moving forward with that motion.
Ward 12 Coun. Elizabeth Peloza is leading the charge, along with Mayor Josh Morgan and Deputy Mayor Shawn Lewis. They are preparing a motion to remove Haggis’s name from the park after a U.S. jury ordered the London-born film director to pay at least US$7.5 million in compensatory damages last week to a woman who accused him of rape.
“Now that there’s been a conviction in a civil suit, I think we have to move on this fairly quickly,” Morgan told Global News.
Last week, Haggis, 69, was ordered to pay an additional US$2.5 million in punitive damages, for a total of US$10 million, or about C$13.3 million.
Allegations against Haggis emerged back in 2017 after a publicist accused him of raping her in his New York apartment in January 2013.
He wasn’t criminally charged in the matter.
Haggis insisted that he had been falsely accused and was financially ruined by fighting the civil case, vowing to appeal.
The jury’s decision came months after Haggis was placed under house arrest for 10 days in Italy as authorities investigated allegations he had sexually assaulted a woman there.