As quickly as Kevin Spacey's (64) Hollywood star has fallen in the wake of the #MeToo movement, his recent progress in court has been remarkable: in both London and New York, he was found not guilty of sexual harassment. According to the US website “Variety”, Spacey has now managed to avoid another legal dispute that threatens his existence, which is accompanied by a loss of 31 million US dollars.
In the summer of 2022, the court actually awarded Spacey this amount to the production company of the Netflix series “House of Cards”. The reason was that Spacey had breached the MRC's sexual harassment policy and was therefore in breach of contract. Since he was then fired and the already planned sixth season had to be completely rewritten, the loss in question was in the double-digit million range.
According to new reports, the actor has now managed to reduce this amount significantly. So now he only has to pay the production company MRC $1 million and he has several years to do it. From the plaintiffs' point of view, the fact that he was fined $30 million was apparently largely for pragmatic reasons – Spacey has hardly been an actor in recent years, and thus his recent income is apparently marginal.
The insurance company should now pay a sum of millions
The company is now trying to collect the unpaid amount in another way: instead of the actor, the insurance company with which the insurance was concluded as part of the “House of Cards” production must be paid. This generally protects productions if any of the actors become too ill to continue filming.
The argument for Spacey: After the allegations, he went to a facility for sex addicts, so he was sick and couldn't work because of it. So there should have been insurance coverage. That conclusion was already rejected during the trial, but now it's getting a new push — particularly from Spacey.
Initially, he had shown little willingness to provide access to his medical records. But thanks to an agreement with the production company MRC, his motivation in this regard rose radically. According to Variety, Spacey has already testified in the insurance claim, been examined by doctors for both sides of the dispute and has released his medical records.
Now the aim is to prove that Spacey also suffered from depression as a result of the allegations and was therefore unable to work. The other side is now extremely upset by this claim and describes it as “verging on the absurd”.
This article “Kevin Spacey is spared $30 million fine” was originally from News.