1 week Ago By tomt
More than seven years after dozens of women accused director James Toback of sexual assault, false imprisonment, coercion and psychological abuse, a New York State jury today awarded $1.68 Billion to 40 of those women. The jury awarded a total of $280 Million in compensatory damages and $1.
4 Billion for punitive damages to the plaintiffs. The lawsuit was filed under New York’s Adult Survivors Act, which opened a one-year window allowing survivors of sexual abuse to file civil claims regardless of how long ago the abuse occurred. “This verdict is about justice.
But more importantly, It’s about taking power back from the abusers—and their and enablers—and returning it to those he tried to control and silence,” said Brad Beckworth, lead counsel for the plaintiffs. Related Stories Which Colleen Hoover Books Are Becoming Movies? 'Verity,' 'Reminders Of Him' & 'Regretting You' Will Join 'It Ends With Us' Netflix Will Hike Prices If UK Introduces Streamer Levy “Today, a jury from the greater New York Community spoke very clearly and sent a message that reverberates far beyond this courtroom: no one is above accountability. The movement is not over.
There is more work to do.” Watch on Deadline Toback is the director of, among other films, Two Girls and a Guy , was Oscar-nominated for writing Warren Beatty’s Bugsy and most recently wrote and directed The Private Life of a Modern Woman , starring Sienna Miller and Alec Baldwin. Actress Mary Monahan, a lead plaintiff who helped launch the case, said: “This is not just a verdict—it’s validation.
For decades, I carried this trauma in silence, and today, a jury believed me. Believed us. That changes everything.
This verdict is more than a number—it’s a declaration. We are not disposable. We are not liars.
We are not collateral damage in someone else’s power trip. The world knows now what we’ve always known: what he did was real. And what we did—standing up, speaking out—was right.
” Rumors about Toback started surfacing in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein revelations, with actress Selma Blair retweeting on October 12 an article in the Huffington Post titled “James Toback Gets Us, He Truly Gets Us in ‘The Private Life of a Modern Woman’”. Blair added a one-word commentary: “Ironic.” Among the women on record with The LA Times in 2017 were Louise Post, guitarist and singer for rock band Veruca Salt; Starr Rinaldi, an aspiring actress approached by Toback 15 years ago in Central Park; and New York drama teacher, actor and playwright Karen Sklaire.
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