A judge on Thursday ordered that Kevin Spacey and his production companies must pay the makers of House of Cards nearly US$31 million for alleged sexual misconduct that led to his unceremonious exit from the popular Netflix series and dented his once high-flying career.
Before getting booted out from House of Cards, Spacey, 63, had starred in five seasons of the White House drama. However, when allegations of him having a history of sexually harassing and in some cases assaulting young men surfaced in 2017, MRC, the company behind the hit Netflix series, cut all ties with the actor.
A private arbiter found in 2020 that Spacey had breached his contract by violating the company’s sexual harassment policy. During the arbitration process, MCR successfully argued that Spacey cost them millions after his alleged misconduct forced them to remove him from the series and cut the sixth season down from 13 to 8 episodes.
After 20 depositions and an eight-day evidence hearing, the ruling from Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mel Red Recana gives the force of law to the $30.9 million award in favour of MRC and other companies that produced House of Cards by the private arbitrator who heard the case against Spacey.
Spacey objected to the award, claiming that it was based on allegations that had nothing to do with his work for MRC. But Recana rejected his argument and wrote that Spacey and his attorneys “fail to demonstrate that this is even a close case” and “do not demonstrate that the damages award was so utterly irrational that it amounts to an arbitrary remaking of the parties’ contracts.”
“We are pleased with the court’s ruling,” MRC attorney Michael Kump said in an email to The Associated Press.
Spacey has denied the allegations through his attorneys and his spokesperson.
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