{"id":363583,"date":"2026-03-25T02:17:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T02:17:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/363583\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T02:17:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T02:17:09","slug":"kevin-spaceys-sickness-wont-trigger-payout-in-house-of-cards-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/363583\/","title":{"rendered":"Kevin Spacey’s ‘Sickness’ Won’t Trigger Payout in ‘House of Cards’ Trial"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tJurors let an insurance company off the hook Tuesday, rejecting a $29.5 million claim tied to Kevin Spacey<\/a>\u2019s ouster from the hit Netflix show \u201cHouse of Cards<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter a day and a half of deliberations, the panel determined Spacey\u2019s diagnosis of \u201csexual compulsive behavior\u201d<\/a> in 2017 was not the primary reason producers halted production and decided to write him out of the show\u2019s final season. In a 10-2 vote for the insurer, jurors said production company Media Rights Capital (MRC) failed to prove Spacey\u2019s alleged \u201csickness\u201d was the \u201cmost important and predominant cause\u201d of its losses, as required under the policy.<\/p>\n

\n\tSpeaking 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\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI didn\u2019t believe his sickness was the most \u2018predominant\u2019 cause for the loss. I think it was reputational harm and bad PR,\u201d juror Olivia Osborne, 29, tells Rolling Stone. \u201cWhen [Netflix Co-CEO] Ted Sarandos sent that email saying Kevin Spacey was done, that was before they knew what his illness was.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOsborne 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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThere is no scenario in which Kevin Spacey will appear in any version of a final season of the show,\u201d Sarandos wrote in the short message cited repeatedly during the civil trial in Santam Monica, California. Meanwhile, Spacey\u2019s formal diagnosis of \u201csexual compulsive behavior\u201d 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<\/a> and said he had no medical basis to dispute the diagnosis, though he did not agree with it.<\/p>\n

\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n

\n\tTwo other female jurors who asked to remain anonymous agreed that the trial\u2019s outcome turned on the word \u201cpredominant,\u201d which was listed as a necessary element in the first question on the verdict form. \u201cThat was the sticking point. We felt there were a number of causes, and his \u2018sickness\u2019 was not the most important,\u201d one woman, the jury\u2019s foreperson, tells Rolling Stone.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe all thought Spacey met the criteria for a serious illness: compulsive sexual behavior. But some people thought he could still perform his duties,\u201d another said, adding that she was not swayed by Spacey\u2019s in-person testimony denying his formal diagnosis. \u201cHe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn closing arguments last week, MRC argued that Spacey\u2019s \u201cmental illness\u201d rendered him a danger on set, necessitating his removal. \u201cSpacey was sick, and his sickness necessarily prevented him from completing his duties,\u201d MRC lawyer Adam Ziffer said. \u201cMr. Spacey couldn\u2019t be brought back because he posed an ongoing risk to the House of Cards cast and crew.\u2026 MRC would have been exposing itself to massive liability if it brought Mr. Spacey back to set.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLeon Gladstone, a lawyer for the insurer, argued \u201cthe real cause of the loss was conduct that went public.\u201d He said concerns about Spacey\u2019s behavior dated back to the show\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\t\tRelated Content<\/p>\n

\n\tWeeks after The New York Times published its bombshell investigation<\/a> into Harvey Weinstein in October 2017, helping to ignite a broader reckoning over sexual misconduct in Hollywood, the actor Anthony Rapp told BuzzFeed News<\/a> 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\u2019s hand toward his crotch.<\/p>\n

\n\tSpacey, 66, testified that he sought treatment at The Meadows at a time when his \u201clife felt like it was collapsing.\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI can tell you that throughout the medical records, there are comments attributed to me I never said,\u201d he testified, his voice rising. He said the doctors\u2019 narrative notes contained obvious inaccuracies. \u201cThey have an idea that I had a British accent, that I have a wife,\u201d the unmarried, openly gay actor said. \u201cThey\u2019re dealing with 29 other men. I have no idea how they take notes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe insurance dispute followed earlier proceedings between Spacey and MRC. An arbitrator found Spacey liable for $31 million in losses<\/a>, a figure later reduced to $1 million in a settlement tied to his agreement to testify and provide medical records in the insurance case.<\/p>\n

\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n

\n\tAt trial, MRC\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn 2022, a jury in Manhattan federal court found insufficient evidence<\/a> to hold Spacey liable for Rapp\u2019s claims. In 2023, he was acquitted of sexual assault charges in London involving four men. Last week,\u00a0the BBC reported<\/a>\u00a0that 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\u2019s High Court\u00a0over the allegations.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jurors let an insurance company off the hook Tuesday, rejecting a $29.5 million claim tied to Kevin Spacey\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":363584,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[321,2126,47452,93,85574,61,60,80633],"class_list":["post-363583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-controversy","tag-courts-and-crime","tag-entertainment","tag-house-of-cards","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-kevin-spacey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=363583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363583\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/363584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=363583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=363583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=363583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}