‘House of Cards’ producer loses lawsuit over Kevin Spacey’s dismissal

The ‘House of Cards’ producer has lost an insurance lawsuit for more than $29 million in production costs following Kevin Spacey’s 2017 firing.

The producer, Media Rights Capital, argued that its losses should have been covered under Spacey’s cast insurance policy, which would pay out if Spacey was unavailable due to illness. The producer’s lawyers argued that Spacey suffered from a sex addiction.

After a five-week trial in Santa Monica, a jury ruled Tuesday that Spacey’s alleged illness was not the primary reason for his departure from the show, and therefore the insurer was not owed anything. Fireman’s Fund argued that MRC actually dropped Spacey due to bad publicity.

“The Fireman Fund’s intent in providing this coverage is to cover the exact costs covered under the policy,” said attorney Leon Gladstone, who represented the insurer. “The jury confirmed that intent by finding that MRC’s business decision to cut ties with Spacey would not be covered.”

Spacey was fired shortly after reports emerged of his sexual misconduct during the #MeToo movement in late 2017. His character was written out of the show’s sixth season and two episodes had to be cut. The final season only had eight episodes instead of thirteen. Spacey sought treatment at The Meadows, an Arizona facility that deals with sex addiction.

Spacey testified at the trial, stating that although he was diagnosed with sexually compulsive behavior, he did not believe the diagnosis was correct.

MRC won a $31 million arbitration award against Spacey in 2021 after an arbitrator found he violated the company’s sexual harassment policy. The company later sued Lloyd’s of London and Fireman’s Fund, on the theory that they should pay the costs under their cast insurance policies. Lloyd’s was dismissed from the business early on.

To strengthen its claims against Fireman’s Fund, MRC needed proof of a diagnosis, but Spacey refused to turn over his medical records. So MRC made a deal with Spacey where he would cooperate in the insurance case in exchange for a reduction in the arbitration award from $31 million to $1 million.

In the settlement, Spacey agreed to pay out the $1 million over a period of years in installments equal to 10% of his after-tax income.