Cuba Gooding Jr Settles Rape Lawsuit In New York – Update
06.06.2023 - 21:19
/ deadline.com
UPDATED, 9:33 AM: Cuba Gooding Jr. will not have to face trial for rape.
Minutes before jury selection was schedule to start this morning in New York in the civil case against the Oscar winner for an alleged 2013 assault, a deal was announced between the Oscar winner and the unnamed plaintiff.
“TRIAL OFF: The jury trial scheduled to go forward today is off the calendar,” it said in the federal court docket Tuesday. “Reason for cancellation (on consent): the parties have resolved the matter.”
As is common with matters such as this, the settlement is being kept confidential. However, from what sources tell us, Gooding paid the alleged victim a “considerable sum” to end the case.
Seeking $6 million in damages when she first filed the action nearly three years ago, the Gloria Allred represented plaintiff was ordered last week by US District Judge Paul Crotty to refile her complaint and reveal her identity in fairness to Gooding – which may have played a role in today’s settlement. On the other hand, the court had also allowed a trio of other women to testify at the trial of Gooding assaulting them or trying to assault them.
One of the women who would have taken the stand was Kelsey Harbert.
Last year, Gooding entered a plea of guilty to a noncriminal harassment violation in the case that Harbert filed against him in 2019. In that matter, Gooding was accused of forcibly fondling the plaintiff in a NYC night club in the summer of that year. As a part of his plea on a lesser charge, Gooding received no jail time or a criminal history out of the Harbert case.
Today, Allred said that she and her client in the civil case had “no comment at this time.
PREVIOUSLY, AUG 202, AM: Cuba Gooding Jr. has been accused of rape in a