A judge has ruled that Kevin Spacey must pay $31 million (£26 million) to House of Cards producers for derailing the series when he was fired over allegations of misconduct.
Officials for MRC, the production company behind the Netflix series, filed a petition in November to confirm that an arbitrator had ordered the actor to pay almost $31 million to them after finding that he breached his contract by violating their sexual harassment policy. Spacey’s team sought to dismiss the ruling in January.
On Thursday, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mel Red Recana confirmed the award, which was originally handed down by the arbitrator in October 2020. The award consists of around $29.5 million (£24 million) in damages and the rest in costs and fees.
“We are pleased with the court’s ruling,” MRC’s attorney Michael J. Kump said in a statement to Deadline.
In January, Spacey’s team had argued that his behaviour on set was just “sexual innuendos” and “innocent horseplay” and therefore he didn’t violate their policy.
Spacey, who executive produced and played Frank Underwood on the show, left the production in chaos during the middle of season six after he was accused of making unwanted sexual advances towards Rent star Anthony Rapp in October 2017.
Subsequently, a number of House of Cards staffers accused Spacey of misconduct. After an internal investigation, the actor was terminated from the show, forcing two episodes to be shelved and most of season six to be rewritten. MRC originally filed court documents in 2019 to recover the costs of scrapping the season and starting over.
Rapp is currently suing the 63-year-old for sexual assault, battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress and the trial is due to begin in New York in October.
Over in the U.K., the American Beauty actor recently pleaded not guilty to four counts of sexual assault and one charge of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent. The trial is scheduled to begin in June 2023.
Spacey has consistently denied all allegations of sexual misconduct and all other legal actions against him have been either dropped or dismissed.
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