A Los Angeles Superior Court judge ordered Kevin Spacey to pay $31 million to MCR, producer of the hit series “House of Cards“, as damages for breach of contract and for damages caused by his behavior during filming.
The arbitration court approved the fine last year, however, the actor appealed the measure, although he was unsuccessful, as Judge Mel Red Recana stated that Spacey’s lawyers had failed to prove that the fine was “as unreasonable” as they argued.
“They failed to show that it is a close case or that the damages award was so absolutely unreasonable as to amount to an arbitrary reworking of both parties’ contracts“, he concluded.
According to information from The Hollywood Reporter, the arbitration tribunal found that the American performer had breached the terms of his contract with his behavior, as he was accused of sexual harassment by a production assistant.
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The complaint came at a time when the two-time Oscar winner was seeing his 30-plus-year career crumble in 2017 after numerous sexual assault allegations surfaced, which he has since denied.
Following the filming assistant’s complaint, the production company eliminated the actor’s role in the “House of Cards” series, rewrote the sixth season and reduced the number of episodes from 13 to 8 to meet the premiere date announced by the streaming service, Netflix.
For all this, the company, alleged during the arbitration that the actor had not provided his services “in a professional manner” or in accordance with its behavioral policies.