Kevin Spacey wins $40 million New York sexual assault civil lawsuit

A New York court has dismissed a $40 million sexual misconduct civil lawsuit brought against Kevin Spacey by an actor, who claimed the Hollywood star had sexually abused him in 1985, when he was 14. The trial had been underway for three weeks with testimonies from both sides. Also read: Kevin Spacey denies sexually assaulting minor in his testimony at sex abuse trial in New York

The accuser, an actor now, had claimed that they had visited Kevin’s home with another friend–actor John Barrowman who was then 19–where Kevin had touched him inappropriately and laid next to him. In the civil suit, he had sued Kevin for “emotional anguish.” However, a jury found that the prosecution failed to prove that the two-time Oscar winner had “touched a sexual or intimate body part,” leading Judge Lewis Kaplan to dismiss the case.

After deliberating for about an hour “the jury found the defendant not liable,” according to the US district court for the Southern District of New York. The 63-year-old was seen leaving court soon after the verdict was announced,. He did not address the reporters waiting outside though. Later, his lawyer said in a statement that “Mr. Spacey is grateful to live in a country where the citizens have a right to trial by impartial jurors who make their decision based on evidence and not rumor or social media.”

In a statement to news agency AFP, the accuser’s attorney Peter Saghir said that his client “told his truth in court.” The statement asserted that “while we respect the jury’s verdict, nothing changes what happened to him.” In his lawsuit the actor, now 50, accused Kevin Spacey of coming into a bedroom where he was watching television, of picking him up, lifting him onto a bed and briefly laying down next to him. He claimed that the senior actor’s hand grazed his buttocks while doing so.

Kevin Spacey had denied the accusations when they first surfaced in 2017, saying he had no recollection of this. He was, however, fired from his Netflix show House of Cards and the film All the Money in the World as a direct fallout of the accusations. He was criticised for making a half-apology at the time. During cross-examination in New York earlier this week, Kevin Spacey said the accusations made him feel “shocked, frightened and confused” and that urged by his advisors he issued a public apology which he said he now regrets.

He also faced charges of sexually assaulting three men in Britain between March 2005 and April 2013. Those charges were also dropped by a Massachusetts court in 2019.

(With AFP inputs)