Actor Kevin Spacey will be tried in federal court for sexual assault. These are the keys to the case

By Daniel

star Anthony Rapp

publicly accused Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey of sexual assault when Rapp was a teenager, a jury will hear the case in federal court in New York.

The civil trial is scheduled to begin Thursday in midtown Manhattan at the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Here's what you need to know about the lawsuit.

What are Rapp's accusations?

Rapp filed a lawsuit against Spacey (real name Kevin Spacey Fowler) in September 2020. Rapp alleged that the actor acted to gratify his sexual desire during an encounter at a party in Manhattan in 1986, when Rapp was 14 years old and Spacey would have I was 26 or 27 years old.

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Rapp requests compensatory and punitive damages.

The trial will focus on Rapp's claims for assault and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

The judge assigned to the case dismissed a sexual assault lawsuit because Rapp filed it too late, according to a court document filed in June.

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Oct. 3, 202201:07

"Mr. Rapp claims that Mr. Fowler picked him up, that Mr. Fowler's hand 'brushed' over Mr. Rapp's clothed buttocks for a few seconds while doing so, that Mr. Fowler placed Mr. Rapp back on the bed, and that Mr. Mr. Fowler briefly placed his own clothed body, partially next to and partially on top of Mr. Rapp's,” according to the court document.

Rapp "ran away" and left the party.

In his statement, he stated that "there were no kisses, no undressing, no reaching under his clothes, no sexual statements or innuendos," according to the court document.

He alleges that the encounter lasted no more than two minutes.

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Spacey denies Rapp's accusations.

Rapp first publicly detailed her allegations in a BuzzFeed News article published on Oct. 29, 2017. In the article, Rapp is quoted as saying, “He picked me up like a boyfriend picks up a girlfriend over the doorway.

But at first I didn't squirm, because I was like, 'What's going on?

And then he lay down on top of me.”

Actor Kevin Spacey arrives at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London, Thursday, June 16, 2022. David Cliff / AP

“He was trying to seduce me,” Rapp added.

“I don't know if he would have used that language.

But I was aware that he was trying to get to me sexually.”

In a tweet sent a day after the article was published, Spacey said he had no recollection of the alleged encounter, writing in part: "If I then behaved as he describes, I owe him the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply intoxicated behavior." inappropriate, and I'm sorry for the feelings you describe having carried with you all these years."

Who is the judge?

District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan will oversee the trial.

President Bill Clinton appointed Kaplan to the US District Court in May 1994, and Kaplan was confirmed by the Senate in August of that year, according to the Federal Judicial Center.

Kaplan has presided over several notable court cases in the last quarter century, including those involving Guantanamo Bay detainees and New York City organized crime. 

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In recent years, Kaplan has been assigned legal matters that have made national headlines, such as the case of E. Jean Carroll, the writer who accused former President Donald Trump of rape and sued him for defamation.

Trump has denied the allegation, and the case is ongoing.

In an order written June 6, Kaplan rejected Spacey's attempt to dismiss Rapp's lawsuit and said the Oscar-winning actor must go to trial.

In the order, the judge wrote in part that “the record raises a genuine question of material fact as to whether Mr. Fowler acted 'for the purpose of gratifying sexual desire' during the alleged encounter.

Kaplan allowed Rapp's assault and intentional infliction of emotional distress claims to go to trial, but dismissed a common law sexual assault charge, saying that claim was not covered by New York State's Child Victims Law. in 2019, which temporarily allowed people to make claims that could normally prescribe. 

What are Spacey's other legal problems?

In the UK, Spacey is facing charges for allegedly sexually assaulting three men a decade or more ago.

He pleaded not guilty in July during a hearing at London's Central Criminal Court.

He is expected to go on trial there starting June 6, 2023, according to The Associated Press news agency.

Incidents of sexual misconduct allegedly took place in the city between March 2005 and August 2008, as well as another incident in the west of England in April 2013. He has denied four counts of sexual assault and one count of making a person engage in nonconsensual penetrative sexual activity.

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In a separate matter, a Los Angeles judge ruled in August that Spacey and his production companies must pay the producers behind the Netflix series

nearly $31 million for losses incurred from his 2017 firing. for what the

giant said was sexual harassment of team members, according to AP.

Spacey, who starred in

as dastardly President Frank Underwood, denies the harassment allegations.

Kevin Spacey as Frank Underwood in Netflix's 'House of Cards.' Nathaniel Bell/Netflix

Spacey was also accused of groping the son of a former Boston television news anchor at a Massachusetts bar in 2016, but the charges were dropped in July 2019, with the district attorney citing the "unavailability of the complaining witness." according to court documents.

Spacey, 63, was once one of Hollywood's biggest stars.

She won Oscars for

and

, and helped make Netflix a platform for high-quality original shows with

. 

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But his acting career came to an abrupt halt after Rapp and other accusers came forward with claims of sexual abuse or harassment in the early days of the #MeToo movement.

Rapp, 50, currently stars in the Paramount+

.

He rose to fame after acting in the original Broadway production of

(he later reprized his role in the 2005 film version) and appearing in Richard Linklater's

.