Cuba Gooding Jr. settles lawsuit with woman who accused him of rape
Terms of the settlement were not disclosed.
Cuba Gooding Jr. has settled his lawsuit with a woman who accused him of raping her in a New York City hotel room 10 years ago.
The settlement comes as jury selection was about to begin Tuesday in a federal civil trial that could have caused the actor to pay millions in damages had the jury sided with the woman.
The plaintiff had been seeking $6 million in damages. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed.
"I have no comment at this time," the woman’s attorney, Gloria Allred, said in response to an email by ABC News.
The woman said she met the actor in a Greenwich Village restaurant in August 2013 while having dinner with a friend. According to her lawsuit, Gooding invited the woman to the Mercer Hotel, where he was staying, for drinks, and asked her to join him in his room while he changed clothes.
The Oscar winner allegedly put on music, "took a position between her and the hotel room door," and then started undressing, the lawsuit said.
The woman said that as she tried to leave, Gooding "blocked her from the door and pushed her onto the bed," according to the lawsuit.
The woman told Gooding "no" multiple times, "but he wouldn't stop" touching her, the lawsuit said.
Gooding then allegedly "aggressively removed Plaintiff's underwear" and raped her, and allegedly raped her a second time a short while later, the lawsuit said.
Gooding denied the allegations and said the encounter was consensual.
The judge ruled that three other women who have accused Gooding of sexual abuse would be allowed to testify at the trial.
"The prior acts are sufficiently similar to Plaintiff's allegations because all involve sudden sexual assaults or attempted sexual assaults connected with the Defendant and victims' presence in social settings prominently featuring drinking like festivals, bars, nightclubs and restaurants," Judge Paul Crotty wrote.
Last year, Gooding avoided prison by pleading guilty in a state criminal case that accused him of groping several women. After pleading guilty to a misdemeanor, the actor underwent alcohol and behavioral counseling, and he was then allowed to withdraw that guilty plea. He instead pleaded guilty to a non-criminal harassment violation, which cleared his record, The Associated Press reported.
