Oscar-nominated Hollywood director James Toback ordered to pay $1.68B to 40 women who accused writer of sexual abuse
A New York jury on Wednesday awarded $1.68 billion in damages to 40 women who accused writer and director James Toback of sexual abuse and other crimes over a span of 35 years, according to lawyers representing the plaintiffs.
The decision stems from a lawsuit filed in Manhattan in 2022 after New York state instituted a one-year window for people to file lawsuits over sexual assault claims even if they took place decades ago.
It marks one of the largest jury awards since the advent of the #MeToo movement, as well as in New York state history, said attorney Brad Beckworth of the law firm Nix Patterson LLP in an interview.
The plaintiffs, he said, believe such a large verdict will send a message to powerful individuals “who don’t treat women appropriately.”
The court had not yet released documentation of the verdict as of Wednesday night. Beckworth said the verdict included $280 million in compensatory damages and $1.4 billion for punitive damages to the plaintiffs.
“This verdict is about justice,” Beckworth said in a statement. “But more importantly, it’s about taking power back from the abusers — and their enablers — and returning it to those he tried to control and silence.”
Beckworth said the abuse took place between 1979 and 2014.
Toback was nominated for an Oscar for writing 1991′s “Bugsy,” and his career in Hollywood has spanned more than 40 years.
Accusations that he engaged in years of sexual abuse surfaced in late 2017 as the #MeToo movement gained attention. They were first reported by the Los Angeles Times.
In 2018, Los Angeles prosecutors said the statutes of limitations had expired in five cases they reviewed and declined to bring criminal charges against Toback.
The plaintiffs then filed a lawsuit in New York a few days after the state’s Adult Survivors Act went into effect.
The lawyers said they had discovered a pattern of Toback attempting to lure young women on the streets of New York into meeting him by falsely promising roles in his films and then subjecting them to sexual acts, threats, and psychological coercion.
Mary Monahan, a lead plaintiff in the case, called the jury award “validation” for her and the other women.
“For decades, I carried this trauma in silence, and today, a jury believed me. Believed us. That changes everything,” she said in a statement.
“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.”
Toback, 80, who most recently had represented himself, denied numerous times in court documents that he “committed any sexual offense” and that “any sexual encounter or contact between Plaintiffs and Defendant was consensual.”
He also argued that New York’s law extending the statute of limitations on sexual abuse cases violated his constitutional rights.
A message sent to an email address listed for him seeking comment was not immediately answered.
In January, the judge in the case entered a default judgment against Toback, who had failed to appear in court when ordered to do so.
The judge then scheduled a trial for only damages last month to determine how much Toback had to pay the women.
Hollywood director James Toback has been ordered to pay $1.68 billion to women who accused him of sexual assault, false imprisonment, coercion, and psychological abuse.
Toback, 80, was among the first prominent Hollywood men to face accusations at the start of the #MeToo movement in 2017.
Wednesday’s ruling at a sexual assault trial in New York involved 40 different accusers filing a lawsuit against the Manhattan-born director, who was nominated for an Academy Award in 1991 for Best Original Screenplay for the movie “Bugsy.”
The jury awarded a total of $1.4 billion in punitive damages and $280 million in compensatory damages to Toback’s victims.
“We are so proud of our clients and this Jury,” said attorney Brad Beckworth, partner at Nix Patterson LLP. “They made sure they enforced the laws of their community to make it safer for women in New York and across the country.”
It marks the largest jury award in New York state history — and since the #MeToo movement began.
“The jury’s verdict is about justice,” Beckworth told The Post. “But more importantly, it’s about taking power back from the abusers — and their enablers — and returning it to those they tried to control.”
All of Toback’s assaults were carried out between 1979 and 2014.
The lawsuit was filed under the New York Adult Survivors Act, which opened a one-year window allowing sexual abuse survivors to file civil rather than criminal claims regardless of how much time had passed.
“This is not just a verdict — it’s vindication,” actress Mary Monahan, who was abused by Toback, said in a statement after the trial.
“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,” she went on. “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.”
“We still have a lot of people in this country who abuse their power — and there are many more who turn a blind eye to it,” Beckworth said.
Longtime personal injury lawyer Herb Subin said the massive verdict — with punitive damages five times larger than the compensation award — shows the jury wanted to send a message, “and make a difference in society.”
“They want to punish the defendant and deter others from abusing and mistreating women,” Subin told The Post.
Toback has continued to deny all the allegations against him.
In court, he claimed it was “biologically impossible” for him to have carried out the abuse he was accused of for “decades” due to his diabetes and heart condition.
Toback did not reply to a request for comment left at an e-mail address associated with him.
Following the original allegations about Toback in 2017, hundreds more women came forward alleging abuse, including Hollywood A-listers such as “Hellboy” star Selma Blair.
“Still Alice” Oscar-winner Julianne Moore previously revealed Toback had invited her to an audition for a role at his New York apartment.
“James Toback approached me in the ’80s on Columbus Ave with the same language — wanted me to audition, come to his apt,” she wrote on social media.
“I refused. One month later, he did it again with the EXACT same language. I said don’t u remember u did this before.”
“Grey’s Anatomy” star Ellen Pompeo previously told Toback to “go f–k himself,” after he asked if she would “get naked,” she claimed in an interview with USA Today.
Toback propositioned Pompeo the moment her male friend, who had come along to the meeting with her, had excused himself, she claimed.
“The minute my friend left, he asked me if I would get naked in a movie,” she said. “And I was like, ‘Really, dude? My friend has been missing all of 30 seconds, and now you say that?’ I kind of laughed in his face.”
“Mean Girls” star Rachel McAdams was sexually propositioned by Toback after he invited her to what he claimed was an audition, she told Vanity Fair.
“It was all so confusing. I kept thinking, ‘When are we getting to the rehearsal part?'” she said.
