Culture

A Judge Is Forcing One of Kevin Spacey’s Accusers to Out Himself to Proceed With Lawsuit


 

Kevin Spacey may be about to beat another set of sexual assault claims after a New York judge’s order has imperiled the continuation of a lawsuit against the Oscar-winner. On Monday, a Manhattan court ordered a man identified anonymously in court documents to disclose his identity to the public if he wants to proceed with the case.

A lawsuit filed in the New York Supreme Court seeks $40 million damages after a man referred to only as “C.D.” claims that Spacey sexually assaulted him in the 1980s, when he was just 14 years old. According to the legal complaint, Spacey “engaged in sexual acts” with the accuser after meeting him in a Westchester County acting class and inviting the teenager over to his apartment. On their last encounter, the litigant claims Spacey forced him to engage in anal sex, despite saying “no” repeatedly and resisting.

Spacey was allegedly in his 20s at the time of the events described, and the accuser is now in his 50s. Although civil sexual assault cases generally have to be filed within three years of the incident in New York courts, the state temporarily lifted the statute of limitations in the case last year, allowing the suit to proceed.

But after the case was transferred to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan claimed that C.D. cannot sue Spacey anonymously. In a written opinion, Kaplan dismissed claims from the accuser’s attorneys that making his name public would cause him “extreme anxiety and psychological distress” and retrigger symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) that developed as a result of the alleged abuse.

“Though C.D. is correct that the public generally has an interest in protecting those who make sexual assault allegations so that they are not deterred from vindicating their rights, it does not follow that the public has an interest in maintaining the anonymity of every person who alleges sexual assault or other misconduct of a highly personal nature,” he wrote.

Kaplan went on to note that the plaintiff’s PTSD did not prevent him from speaking to the entertainment news outlet Vulture, which has published a series of investigations regarding the numerous allegations of assault against Spacey. According to Vulture, more than 30 individuals have accused the American Beauty actor of unwanted touching, sexual harassment, or forcible intercourse, and many of the alleged victims were teenagers at the time of the reported incidents.

In putting his claims into the public eye, Kaplan said that C.D. “knowingly and repeatedly took the risk” that comes along with it, which includes public scrutiny regarding his allegations.

“As media coverage of the allegations against Spacey grows, as would be very likely as this litigation proceeds and a trial approaches or takes place, it is only common sense to say that the risk of disclosure would grow,” the judge wrote. “He makes serious charges and, as a result, has put his credibility in issue.”

Even as the #MeToo era shines a greater light on sexual abuse, both within the entertainment industry and in everyday life, the ruling illustrates the struggle that survivors continue to face in making their claims heard.

In September, a New York court came to a similar decision in a case regarding Harvey Weinstein, who was accused of groping a woman known as “Jane Doe” in a hotel room at the Cannes Film Festival in 2007. U.S. District Court Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil, also of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, ruled that she could not proceed with her lawsuit against Weinstein anonymously. The plaintiff subsequently dropped the lawsuit.



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