Kevin Spacey Ordered to Pay Nearly $31 Million for Violating Harassment Policy The studio behind 'House of Cards' alleges Spacey's breaches of contract made him liable for tens of millions of dollars in losses.
By Chloe Arrojado Edited by Amanda Breen
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Court documents released on Monday reveal actor Kevin Spacey was ordered last year to pay nearly $31 million to House of Cards studio MRC. According to the document, Spacey had to pay nearly $30 million for compensatory damages and $1.4 million for fees and costs. MRC filed the petition in the Los Angeles Superior Court, writing Spacey breached his contract by violating the company's harassment policy.
"The Arbitrator further found that Spacey's egregious breaches of contract proximately caused and rendered him (and his affiliated entities) liable for the tens of millions of dollars in losses MRC suffered when it had no choice, upon the revelations of Spacey's pattern of harassment, to halt the production of Season 6 of [House of Cards], to rewrite the entire season to omit Spacey's character, and to shorten Season 6 from 13 to 8 episodes to meet delivery deadlines," MRC wrote in its court filing.
Related: When It Comes to Harassment, Workplace Silence Doesn't Mean Everything Is OK
MRC severed ties with Spacey in 2017 after reports from CNN and Buzzfeed revealed his sexual misconduct with House of Cards employees and others in the media industry. The production company said that it did not know of Spacey's misconduct at the time, which it confirmed in the petition.
"The safety of our employees, sets and work environments is of paramount importance to MRC and why we set out to push for accountability," MRC said in a statement.
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