Paul Haggis found liable in rape case; hit with $7.5-million judgment and more to come
Lawyers for Georgia rape victim Rebecca Jones on Tuesday filed an appeal of a judge’s $7.5-million award, claiming the jury was given improper instructions.
Jones and the mother of her 4-year-old son, who was present during the alleged rape, also filed a motion asking for the judgment to be set aside based on a claim of newly discovered evidence.
Lawyers for Jones and her mother on Tuesday filed papers asking the Georgia Court of Appeals to overturn a ruling that Atlanta-based celebrity trial lawyer Paul Haggis was liable for the rape, based on a claim the jury was given improper instructions at the trial.
The appeal brief filed Tuesday argues Jones and the mother of the child she and Jones have shared had an argument about the case during a dinner at a hotel that was not recorded and therefore does not satisfy Georgia’s Rules for Open Records Law.
Jones had filed a separate lawsuit against Haggis, claiming he should have been more prepared to address her claims of rape by her mother that resulted in a $7.5 million jury award. Haggis, who represented Jones and the woman she alleged was a witness in the case, never addressed the issue because the case settled.
Jones and her husband, former Georgia State University basketball coach Bob McAdoo, said in the brief that Haggis should have done the following:
• Sent the mother of the child to the hotel room and stayed with his client.
• Not tried to discredit the testimony of the wife of an alleged witness, whom he had told about the party.
• He should have not responded to Jones’s question that she was not sure whether the alleged rape happened before or after the alleged party.
• He should have not tried to discredit the wife of the alleged witness.
• He should have informed her that while he was not sure of the ver
