Jurors let an insurance company off the hook Tuesday, rejecting a $29.5 million claim tied to Kevin Spacey’s ouster from the hit Netflix show “House of Cards.”
After a day and a half of deliberations, the panel determined Spacey’s diagnosis of “sexual compulsive behavior” in 2017 was not the primary reason producers halted production and decided to write him out of the show’s final season. In a 10-2 vote for the insurer, jurors said production company Media Rights Capital (MRC) failed to prove Spacey’s alleged “sickness” was the “most important and predominant cause” of its losses, as required under the policy.
Speaking after the verdict, several jurors said the evidence showed Spacey did receive a legitimate diagnosis of a covered illness. Still, they believed other factors ultimately drove the studio’s decision.
“I didn’t believe his sickness was the most ‘predominant’ cause for the loss. I think it was reputational harm and bad PR,” juror Olivia Osborne, 29, tells Rolling Stone. “When [Netflix Co-CEO] Ted Sarandos sent that email saying Kevin Spacey was done, that was before they knew what his illness was.”
Osborne was referring to the internal email from Netflix co-chief executive Ted Sarandos dated Nov. 2, 2017, that was a prominent piece of evidence for Fireman’s Fund, the insurer. Sarandos sent the message after Spacey was accused of sexual misconduct in back-to-back articles from BuzzFeed News and CNN in October 2017, just as the #MeToo movement was gaining momentum.
“There is no scenario in which Kevin Spacey will appear in any version of a final season of the show,” Sarandos wrote in the short message cited repeatedly during the civil trial in Santam Monica, California. Meanwhile, Spacey’s formal diagnosis of “sexual compulsive behavior” was formalized in the psychiatric summary issued when Spacey was discharged from The Meadows hospital on Dec. 16, 2017. Testifying in person, Spacey read from his discharge paperwork and said he had no medical basis to dispute the diagnosis, though he did not agree with it.
Two other female jurors who asked to remain anonymous agreed that the trial’s outcome turned on the word “predominant,” which was listed as a necessary element in the first question on the verdict form. “That was the sticking point. We felt there were a number of causes, and his ‘sickness’ was not the most important,” one woman, the jury’s foreperson, tells Rolling Stone.
“We all thought Spacey met the criteria for a serious illness: compulsive sexual behavior. But some people thought he could still perform his duties,” another said, adding that she was not swayed by Spacey’s in-person testimony denying his formal diagnosis. “He was very performative. It was like he was flirting, trying to make eye contact with us. He was trying to be funny, but it was more like he was revealing himself. He seemed to be in denial.”
In closing arguments last week, MRC argued that Spacey’s “mental illness” rendered him a danger on set, necessitating his removal. “Spacey was sick, and his sickness necessarily prevented him from completing his duties,” MRC lawyer Adam Ziffer said. “Mr. Spacey couldn’t be brought back because he posed an ongoing risk to the House of Cards cast and crew.… MRC would have been exposing itself to massive liability if it brought Mr. Spacey back to set.”
Leon Gladstone, a lawyer for the insurer, argued “the real cause of the loss was conduct that went public.” He said concerns about Spacey’s behavior dated back to the show’s first season in 2012, when a production assistant accused the actor of making a lewd comment and touching his belt. Producers investigated but continued with the show, Gladstone said, adding that executives reacted differently in 2017 because the allegations drew national attention.
Weeks after The New York Times published its bombshell investigation into Harvey Weinstein in October 2017, helping to ignite a broader reckoning over sexual misconduct in Hollywood, the actor Anthony Rapp told BuzzFeed News that Kevin Spacey had made a sexual advance toward him in 1986, when he was 14. Days later, CNN reported accounts from eight anonymous House of Cards crew members who accused Spacey of predatory behavior, including initiating a handshake and then pulling a person’s hand toward his crotch.
Spacey, 66, testified that he sought treatment at The Meadows at a time when his “life felt like it was collapsing.” He wanted to address questions about his behavior and personal boundaries, he said. Spacey disputed portions of his medical records, denying some of the conduct described.
“I can tell you that throughout the medical records, there are comments attributed to me I never said,” he testified, his voice rising. He said the doctors’ narrative notes contained obvious inaccuracies. “They have an idea that I had a British accent, that I have a wife,” the unmarried, openly gay actor said. “They’re dealing with 29 other men. I have no idea how they take notes.”
The insurance dispute followed earlier proceedings between Spacey and MRC. An arbitrator found Spacey liable for $31 million in losses, a figure later reduced to $1 million in a settlement tied to his agreement to testify and provide medical records in the insurance case.
At trial, MRC’s lawyers argued that Spacey remained in denial about his condition, pointing to his refusal to turn over medical records for years and his testimony that he was not a sex addict. The insurer maintained that he was capable of performing and could have returned to complete the series.
In 2022, a jury in Manhattan federal court found insufficient evidence to hold Spacey liable for Rapp’s claims. In 2023, he was acquitted of sexual assault charges in London involving four men. Last week, the BBC reported that Spacey had reached out-of-court settlements with three men who accused him of sexual misconduct, with several allegations tied to his tenure as artistic director of the Old Vic theater in London from 2004 to 2013. The settlements came as Spacey was heading toward a civil trial in London’s High Court over the allegations.
Michaela Coel in ‘The Christophers.’Claudette Barius/NEON
