JURY SIDES WITH SPACEY IN LAWSUIT
A federal jury found Kevin Spacey not liable for battery Thursday in a civil case brought by actor Anthony Rapp, who accused Spacey of climbing on top of him and making a sexual advance more than 30 years ago when Rapp was 14.
The 11-person jury in U.S. District Court in Manhattan spent less than 90 minutes deliberating over the evidence against Spacey, who denied the accusation on the stand. Rapp, who is best known for his originating role in the musical “Rent,” came forward with the accusation in 2017. At the time, Spacey was a star of the political drama “House of Cards” and a lauded actor who had hosted the Tony Awards months earlier.
The trial hinged on Rapp’s account of a night in 1986, when, he said, he attended a party at Spacey’s New York apartment during a Broadway season in which both of them were acting in plays.
At the trial, Spacey testified that he was sure the encounter with Rapp never happened, in part because he was living in a studio apartment rather than the one bedroom that Rapp cited, and he never had a gathering beyond a housewarming party.
The jury found that Spacey did not touch a sexual or intimate part of Rapp’s, meaning it could not find him liable under the Child Victims Act, a New York state law that allowed Rapp to bring his claim. The law included a look-back window during which old claims that had already passed the statute of limitations could be revived.
After the verdict was read, Spacey, 63, stood up with tears in his eyes. He hugged his lawyers briefly and shared a longer hug with his assistant. Rapp, 50, was stoic and straight-faced, as he had been through the entire proceeding.
“We’re just grateful that the jury saw the truth,” Jennifer L. Keller, one of Spacey’s lawyers, said after the verdict.
Richard M. Steigman, one of Rapp’s lawyers, said, “The jury has spoken.”
Rapp’s claim was one of the most prominent in the early days of the #MeToo movement, as accusers started to come forward with allegations against high-profile men in the entertainment, political and business worlds. Spacey quickly experienced career blowback and was ultimately removed from “House of Cards.”
The disclosure by Rapp, which BuzzFeed News published in October 2017, was followed by more than a dozen other sexual misconduct accusations against Spacey. He has pleaded not guilty to sexual assault charges in Britain.
Unlike in a criminal trial, jurors in a civil trial did not need to find that the defendant committed the offenses beyond a reasonable doubt. Instead, the jury was asked to consider whether the greater weight of the evidence was in the plaintiff ’s or defendant’s favor.