Cuba Gooding Jr. faces two lawsuits alleging sexual assault under New York’s Adult Survivors Act

Cuba Gooding Jr. faces two new lawsuits from women who allege he groped them in separate incidents at New York restaurants in 2018 and 2019.

The lawsuits were filed Wednesday in New York Supreme Court under the state’s Adult Survivors Act, which expires this week. The law allows plaintiffs to pursue civil sex crime claims that would otherwise be barred by the statute of limitations.

The lawsuit is the latest against Gooding, who settled a lawsuit in June with a woman who accused him of rape in 2013.

In the 2018 lawsuit, a cocktail waitress who worked at the New York restaurant and nightclub LAVO accused Gooding of sticking his tongue in her mouth without her consent. Gooding pleaded guilty to a charge related to the incident last year. The lawsuit includes a portion of the transcript of an April 2022 hearing in which Gooding admitted to the conduct. The plaintiff requested that her name not be used.

In the 2019 lawsuit, Kelsey Harbert claimed Gooding groped her breast after she sat next to him and his girlfriend at the Magic Hour Rooftop Bar & Lounge. “In response, Plaintiff grabbed Defendant’s hand to remove it from her breast, whereupon Defendant raised her hand to his mouth and attempted to kiss it,” the lawsuit states.

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Herbert reported the incident to the police. Gooding also pleaded guilty and attached to the complaint was a comment from his trial in which he said it was “non-consensual physical contact”.

Read the lawsuit against Gooding here.

In October 2022, after a judge found that Gooding had complied with the terms of a plea deal, the actor received no jail time and replaced his misdemeanor plea with a non-criminal harassment plea.

Both plaintiffs seek damages for lost wages, emotional distress, punitive damages, compensatory damages and attorney’s fees.

A representative for Gooding did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Gloria Allred, who represents the two plaintiffs, said in a statement: “Our clients were denied the justice they sought in the criminal case. They are now seeking justice and accountability in their civil cases. We are proud of their courage and want to fight vigorously for them until they receive the justice they deserve.”