$1.68 Billion Jury Verdict Against Director James Toback Sends a Message That Cannot Be Ignored

In one of the most powerful jury statements since the rise of the #MeToo movement, a New York jury has awarded a staggering $1.68 billion in damages to 40 women who accused Oscar-nominated writer and director James Toback of decades of sexual abuse. The verdict is among the largest of its kind in New York history and stands as a resounding declaration: survivors are being heard—and believed.

The civil lawsuit, filed in 2022 under New York’s Adult Survivors Act, opened a one-year window allowing victims of sexual assault to seek justice, regardless of when the abuse occurred. For these women, the window represented more than a legal technicality—it was a long-awaited opportunity to confront a man who they say used power, manipulation, and fear to control and violate them over a span of 35 years.

Toback, best known for co-writing the film Bugsy (1991), was accused of systematically targeting young women on the streets of New York under the guise of casting them in films. What followed, according to court filings, were encounters marked by threats, coercion, and sexual assault. Many of the stories surfaced in 2017 during the groundswell of the #MeToo movement but were not prosecuted criminally due to expired statutes of limitations.

This civil judgment—$280 million in compensatory damages and $1.4 billion in punitive damages—is not merely about dollars. As attorney Brad Beckworth, who represented the plaintiffs, put it, “This verdict is about justice… It’s about taking power back from the abusers—and their enablers—and returning it to those he tried to control and silence.”

For many of the women involved, the trial marked the first time their trauma was publicly validated. “For decades, I carried this trauma in silence,” said lead plaintiff Mary Monahan. “And today, a jury believed me. Believed us. That changes everything.”

Toback, now 80, represented himself in court but failed to appear for critical proceedings, resulting in a default judgment in January. A trial was later held to determine damages. He has denied all allegations and argued that the state’s law reviving old abuse claims is unconstitutional—a defense the court ultimately rejected.

This case highlights the profound role that civil justice can play when the criminal system fails survivors. It also reinforces the need for legislative tools like the Adult Survivors Act, which allow the silenced to finally speak—and be heard.

The message is unmistakable: the time when powerful men could exploit women with impunity is over. Justice may not erase the past, but it can make it matter. And for these 40 women, this verdict is proof that their pain was never theirs to bear alone.