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Cuba Gooding Jr, a Hollywood actor, was sued on Wednesday, November 22 by two women whose s**ual assault cases against him led to a criminal prosecution that resulted in his pleading guilty but receiving no jail time.
Jasmine Abbay said in a case filed in a New York state court in Manhattan that the Oscar winner kissed her without her consent in September 2018, while she was working as a cocktail waitress at the LAVO nightclub in midtown Manhattan.
Kelsey Harbert, the other plaintiff, accused Gooding of touching her breast in June 2019 at the Magic Hour rooftop club in midtown.
“Our clients were deprived of the justice they sought in the criminal case,” Gloria Allred, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said in a statement. “They are now seeking justice and accountability in their civil cases.”
Abbay and Harbert are suing for unspecified damages for assault and battery under the Adult Survivors Act, a special New York state law that allows women to sue their abusers even after statutes of limitations have expired.
The law expires after the U.S. Thanksgiving Day holiday.
Among those who have been sued under the statute include actors Russell Brand and Bill Cosby, former movie producer Harvey Weinstein, former President Donald Trump, and hip-hop entrepreneur Sean “Diddy” Combs, whose case was resolved in one day.
In 1997, Gooding won an Academy Award for best supporting actor for his performance in “Jerry Maguire.”
In April 2022, he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of physically touching Abbay, who was not recognized at the time but revealed her identify in her lawsuit.
Six months later, the charge was reduced to harassment, to which Gooding pleaded guilty after complying with a plea arrangement that required alcohol and behavior modification treatment as well as no more arrests.
Accusations made by Abbay, Harbert, and a third lady were the foundation of a six-count indictment against Gooding, which was resolved by his guilty plea.
Harbert was outraged at the time that she couldn’t hold him accountable in court for the “irreparable damage” he did.
In June, Gooding resolved a civil complaint filed by a woman accusing him of r*pe in 2013 in federal court in Manhattan. The financial terms were not disclosed. The woman had asked for $6 million.
