Cuba Gooding Jr. escapes a civil rape trial, settling for a lawsuit from a woman who claims she was twice raped by the Jerry Maguire star in a New York hotel a decade ago
- The civil rape trial of Cuba Gooding Jr. was scheduled to begin this week in New York City
- Just before jury selection was due to begin, it was announced that Gooding had reached a settlement with the woman who alleges he raped her
- Last year, Gooding struck a deal with another woman who says the actor fondled and fondled her
Cuba Gooding Jr. has escaped a civil rape trial set to begin today after reaching a last-minute court settlement with the woman who claimed the Oscar-winner assaulted her in a New York hotel a decade ago, according to court documents .
The Jerry Maguire star has been accused of meeting the woman at a Manhattan restaurant and persuading her to come to his place at the Mercer Hotel in Manhattan’s Soho neighborhood and stop him in his room so he could change.
She said in her lawsuit that Gooding subsequently raped her anally and vaginally.
The trial was scheduled to begin Tuesday with jury selection in New York federal court. The woman had remained anonymous until last week, when Judge Paul A. Crotty ruled that she must reveal her name at trial.
The actor had insisted through lawyers that his encounter with the woman was consensual after the two met at a nearby restaurant – and that she subsequently bragged to others about having sex with a celebrity.
The trial was scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. Tuesday, but at 10:24 a.m. court documents said “the parties have resolved the matter.” The exact terms of the settlement were not released.
Cuba Gooding Jr. pictured in court in January 2020
The Mercer Hotel in New York City, where the woman said a rape occurred
The woman claimed that Gooding took her to his hotel room on the pretext that he needed to change
The lawsuit sought $6 million in damages. Attorney Gloria Allred, one of several representatives for the woman, declined to comment.
The lawsuit was filed against a man who authorities say has been accused of sexual misconduct towards more than 30 other women, including groping, unwanted kissing and other inappropriate behavior.
Late last week, the judge appeared to bolster the woman’s position in the trial and settlement hearings by ruling that he would have three women testify that they too had been subjected to sudden sexual assault or attempted sexual assault after seeing Gooding in social situations such as festivals, bars, nightclubs and restaurants.
One of the women who wanted to testify at the trial was Kelsey Harbert, who told police Gooding petted her without her consent in 2019 at the Magic Hour Rooftop Bar & Lounge near Times Square.
A total of nine people, including Gooding and Herbert, were scheduled to testify in court.
Harbert said last year, after Gooding pleaded guilty in a New York state court to saving him from jail or a criminal record, that never being on trial was “more disappointing than words can express.”
Gooding, a star of movies like Boyz n the Hood and Radio, was allowed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor in April 2022, admitting to violently kissing a worker at a New York nightclub in 2018.
By staying out of trouble and completing six months of alcohol and behavioral counseling, Gooding was allowed to retract his guilty plea and plead guilty to a noncriminal harassment violation, erasing his criminal record and preventing further sentences.
Cuba Gooding Jr. pictured with rapper French Montana on May 19 in New York City