Cuba Gooding Jr. Settles Federal Lawsuit Accusing Him of Rape: Latest Update and Settlement Details

Actor Cuba Gooding Jr. has reached a settlement in a civil lawsuit that accused him of rape, effectively avoiding a trial that was anticipated to feature testimony from three additional women alleging abuse between 2009 and 2019.

Previously, Gooding had faced multiple accusations of groping or forcibly kissing numerous women. Last year, he pleaded guilty to a single charge of harassment, resulting from an incident where he kissed a woman without her consent.

The trial, scheduled to commence on Tuesday, was expected to present allegations from a lawsuit filed in 2020 on behalf of a woman identified as Jane Doe. This lawsuit contained the most severe accusations to date against Gooding, who is among several prominent figures facing misconduct allegations during the #MeToo movement, a widespread reevaluation of power dynamics and sexual misconduct in America and beyond.

Many of these allegations involve individuals in the entertainment industry. Gooding, a native of the Bronx, played a leading role in the 1991 film "Boyz N the Hood" and won an Academy Award in 1997 for his supporting role in "Jerry Maguire."

Jury selection for the Jane Doe trial was slated to begin at 10 a.m. on Tuesday. However, neither Gooding nor the plaintiff's attorney, Gloria Allred, a long-standing advocate for women's rights, appeared at that time.

An entry on the electronic docket for the case appeared on Tuesday morning, stating, "The parties have resolved the matter."

Allred confirmed that Jane Doe had no immediate comment on the settlement, while Gooding's lawyers did not respond to a request for comment.

Judge Paul A. Crotty, presiding over the case, recently denied the woman's lawyers' motion to maintain her Jane Doe pseudonym as the trial approached. He determined that anonymity, which had been warranted in earlier stages of the litigation, would now cause significant prejudice to the defendant.

Judge Crotty had instructed Jane Doe's attorneys to "file an amended complaint using her legal name." However, the case concluded before an amended complaint appeared on the electronic docket.

Jane Doe's lawsuit, seeking unspecified damages, detailed events that allegedly occurred in the summer of 2013. According to the plaintiff, Gooding approached her at a restaurant and lounge in Greenwich Village, later inviting her for drinks at the Mercer, a hotel in SoHo.

The lawsuit claimed that once in Gooding's hotel room, he began undressing after informing the woman of the need to change clothes urgently. When she attempted to leave, Gooding allegedly blocked her, pushed her onto a bed, and engaged in unwanted sexual touching despite her repeated objections. The incident reportedly culminated in him forcibly penetrating her as she tried to escape the bed.

A lawyer representing Gooding at the time of the lawsuit's filing categorically refuted the allegations, deeming them "completely false and defamatory."

One of the expected witnesses was Kelsey Harbert, who accused Gooding of groping her breast in 2019 at an upscale lounge in the Moxy NYC Times Square Hotel.

Gooding faced criminal charges based on Harbert's account and similar testimonies from two other women. As investigators probed these accusations, over 20 women came forward alleging that Gooding had groped or forcibly kissed them in incidents spanning more than two decades.

Last year, Gooding pleaded guilty to a count of forcible touching related to an incident in 2018 where he kissed a woman at a Manhattan nightclub without her consent.

In the fall, Gooding was permitted to withdraw his initial plea and instead plead guilty to a reduced charge of harassment. This decision followed his ongoing alcohol treatment and behavioral modification since 2019, as well as his commitment to