Kevin Spacey: Man who alleged actor ‘groped’ him drops civil case
Kevin Spacey pleaded not guilty against sexual assault charges at Nantucket District Court in January 2019. (Nicole Harnishfeger-Pool/Getty Images)
A man who alleged that US actor Kevin Spacey groped him in 2016 has dropped the civil case against him.
According to the BBC, the alleged victim’s lawyer said that he had filed papers on July 3 to voluntarily drop the civil case against Spacey.
The civil case was dismissed by judges with prejudice, which means the man cannot refile his civil case against Spacey at a later date.
The civil case was the man’s attempt to get unspecified damages from Spacey for “explicit sexual behaviour” at The Club Car restaurant in Nantucket.
A criminal case against Spacey was also filed last year by prosecutors for the alleged incident.
In January, Spacey pleaded not guilty to the criminal charge of indecent assault and battery.
The alleged victim is the son of Heather Unruh, a former local television news presenter in Boston.
Last year, Unruh spoke out about the allegations her son had made against Spacey. She alleged that Spacey her bought her then 18-year-old son alcohol – while they were in Massachusetts, where the legal drinking age is 21 – before groping him.
Spacey’s lawyers had accused Unruh’s son of deleting text messages that would have supported Spacey’s defence.
Spacey facing a number of allegations
There are a number of allegations about the Academy Award-winning actor.
In October 2017, he was accused by actor Anthony Rapp of having made sexual advances towards him when he was just 14 at a party, when Spacey was 26.
Spacey responded to the claims by saying he didn’t remember the incident, but that if it did happen, it was “inappropriate” drunken behaviour, and picked the same moment to come out as gay.
After Rapp’s accusation emerged, others started to follow suit, with filmmaker Tony Montana and actor Roberto Cavazos both saying they had similar bad experiences with Spacey.
There are several cases of assault currently under investigation by police both in the US and the UK against Spacey.
