The makers of House of Cards sue Lloyd’s of London and another insurer for £40 million over Kevin Spacey’s ‘sex addiction’

The makers of House of Cards have sued Lloyd’s of London and another insurer for £40 million. They claim that Kevin Spacey’s alleged sex addiction was an illness for which they should have been covered.

Media Rights Capital, which produced the hit Netflix drama, is trying to recoup some of the huge costs it incurred in 2017 when it fired Spacey as the show’s star after several men accused him of sexual misconduct.

The Hollywood production company claims that Spacey’s reported problems with sex addiction constitute a real illness.

The company is suing Lloyd’s of London and Fireman’s Fund, another insurer, in Los Angeles court for the $50 million (£41 million) it says it lost after the series had to be shelved and rewritten, and three planned spin -off series had to be scrapped.

At the time, the 64-year-old star was being treated at Gentle Path at The Meadows, a glitzy £23,000-a-month rehabilitation center in Arizona.

While Spacey is currently trying to revive his career and reputation after being acquitted by a British court of sexually assaulting four men between 2004 and 2013, later insisting he was not a “sex addict”, Hollywood producers say the disease is genuinely was and should have been covered by the insurers.

The latter counters that it was actually the public scandal sparked by the misconduct allegations that led to House of Cards’ collapse and that Spacey’s sexual proclivities had never stopped him from acting.

The insurers’ policies cover illness and disease, but do not specify exactly what is included.

However, Media Rights Capital (MRC) – which first approached the insurers for compensation in 2019 – has argued in court that Lloyd’s was previously happy to take on unusual celebrity risks similar to Spacey’s sex drive, such as Keith’s hands Richards, David Beckham’s hands. legs and Bruce Springsteen’s voice.

Spacey — who is not involved in the lawsuit — has never revealed exactly what treatment he received in Arizona, but he has always denied any sexual impropriety. He has also refused to reveal his medical information to lawyers involved in the LA case.

The insurers claim that MRC was aware of Spacey’s sexual behavior long before the scandal broke in 2017, when actor Anthony Rapp accused the star of making sexual advances toward him when he was 14.

A series of other men in both the US and Britain, where Spacey was artistic director of the Old Vic Theatre, subsequently came forward with accusations.

Some of them came from people he had worked with on House of Cards, an adaptation of the novel by British writer Michael Dobbs.

According to Lloyd’s insurers, MRC hired a private investigator in 2012 to investigate Spacey’s conduct after an executive producer reported that the actor inappropriately touched and put his arm around a young actor. After the investigator concluded that Spacey was guilty, he underwent sexual harassment training. It is alleged that MRC was not covered by Lloyd’s policy at the time.

MRC first asked its insurers for compensation for Spacey in 2019, but was turned down.

In 2022, a US judge ruled that Spacey must pay MRC $31 million (£25.5 million) in compensation for the disruption he caused, although he is appealing.

Spacey received a standing ovation on Monday night when he appeared at Oxford University and performed a Shakespearean monologue during a lecture on cancel culture.

However, to illustrate that public opinion is still very much divided over Spacey, it was revealed this week that London’s Prince Charles Cinema had dropped its offer to host a premiere for a new Welsh thriller, Control, when it discovered that the actor provides the voice for Spacey. one of the characters.