LOS ANGELES (AP) — A judge ruled Thursday that Kevin Spacey and his production companies must pay the makers of “House of Cards” nearly $31 million for losses stemming from his 2017 firing for sexually harassing cast members. the team.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mel Red Recana’s ruling gives the force of law to a $30.9 award in favor of MRC and other companies that produced the Netflix series by a private arbitrator who heard the case against Spacey.
Recana wrote that Spacey and his lawyers “fail to establish that this is even a close case” and “fail to demonstrate that the damages awarded are so completely irrational as to amount to an arbitrary remaking of the parties’ contracts.”
“We are pleased with the court’s decision,” MRC attorney Michael Kump said in an email to The Associated Press.
Spacey denied the allegations through his lawyers and his spokesman, who did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment.
The arbitrator found that Spacey violated the terms of his professional conduct contract by “engaging in certain conduct with respect to several cast members in each of the five seasons in which he also served as an executive producer of House of Cards,” according to a document from Kump seeking approval.
As a result, MRC had to fire Spacey, halt production on the show’s sixth season, rewrite it to remove Spacey’s central character, and cut it from 13 to eight episodes to meet deadlines, resulting in losses in the tens of millions, according to court documents.
Spacey’s lawyers argued in their own filings that the decision to drop him from the show’s sixth season came before the internal investigation that prompted the cast members to come forward, and therefore was not part of a breach of contract. They claim that the actor’s actions were not a significant factor in the show’s losses.
The private arbitrator’s decision came after a legal battle of more than three years and an eight-day evidentiary hearing that was kept secret from the public, along with the rest of the dispute, until a panel of three other private arbitrators dismissed Spacey’s appeal and upheld the decision in November .
The 63-year-old Oscar winner’s career came to an abrupt halt in late 2017 when the #MeToo movement gained momentum and allegations against him surfaced from several quarters.
Spacey has been fired or sidelined from projects, most notably “House of Cards,” the Netflix political thriller where, for five seasons, he played the title character Frank Underwood, a power-hungry congressman who becomes president.
Last month, Spacey pleaded not guilty in London to charges of sexually assaulting three men a decade or more ago when he was director of the Old Vic theater there. His lawyer said he “vehemently denies” the allegations. He is due to stand trial next year.
Another criminal case against him, a charge of indecent assault and battery stemming from the alleged groping of an 18-year-old man at the Nantucket resort, was dismissed by Massachusetts prosecutors in 2019.
Spacey also faces lawsuits from other men, including actor Anthony Rapp.
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