First of four major #MeToo trials kick off with Kevin Spacey

The Oscar-winning actor is being sued for $40 million for an alleged sexual assault.

The Oscar-winning actor is being sued for $40 million for an alleged sexual assault.

Five years after Star Trek actor Anthony Rapp publicly accused actor Kevin Spacey of sexual assault the pair will face off in a New York federal court. 

Rapp filed a lawsuit against Kevin Spacey in September 2020.

He is suing the Oscar-winning actor for $40 million in compensatory and punitive damages, after alleging Spacey made an unwanted sexual advance on him in 1986, when Rapp was 14-years-old. 

The trial will pivot on claims of battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The judge assigned to the case dismissed a sexual assault claim because of a statute of limitation, court documents reveal. 

Rapp first came forward with allegations against Spacey in a BuzzFeed article published in October 2017, spurring many others to come forward with their own allegations.

Spacey released a statement to Twitter, saying that he did not recall the episode, and apologised for what he said “would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behaviour.”

Timeline of Kevin Spacey abuse allegations

The alleged incident unfolded at a party at the actor’s Manhattan home. Rapp’s suit details that Spacey “intentionally and voluntarily and without plaintiff’s consent engaged in an unwanted sexual advance with a 14-year-old and grabbed then infant plaintiff, Anthony Rapp’s, buttocks, lifted him onto a bed and laid on plaintiff’s body.” Court papers say that Rapp was “was forced to extricate himself and, fearing for his safety, ran into the bathroom of defendant’s apartment.” 

The case initially involved a second anonymous accuser “C.D”, who claims Spacey sexually abused him in the 1980s when he was 14. The pair met at Spacey’s New York acting class before the alleged incident of abuse. US District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan ruled the man can’t proceed anonymously in court.

The civic trial will start Thursday in New York. 

It’s the first of four major #MeToo trials to take place this month in New York and LA.

The three other trials involve producer Harvey Weinstein, director Paul Haggis and That 70s Show actor Danny Masterson.

Each trial involves one sexual assault allegation against the accused.