A judge has ruled that the man who is suing actor Kevin Spacey for $40 million in federal court must give up his anonymity if he wishes to pursue the case.
Because the man has disclosed the alleged sexual abuse with other people in the years since it took place, U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan argued he cannot remain anonymous in court.
The lawsuit was filed under New York’s 2019 Child Victims Act, which allows people to bring a lawsuit regardless of when the childhood-related allegations took place.
Known up until now as “C.D.”, the man will have to reveal his identity within 10 days if he wishes to proceed.
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C.D. filed the suit along with Star Trek: Discovery actor Anthony Rapp in September, both accusing Spacey of multiple instances of sexual assault.
C.D. says he met Spacey in 1981 when he was just 12, at an acting class Spacey was teaching. He ran into him again a couple of years later in New York City, and Spacey invited him to his apartment.
C.D. says he performed oral sex on Spacey in his home. He also says Spacey tried to rape him during another encounter, prompting C.D. to flee the apartment.
Judge Kaplan ruled that “C.D.’s privacy interest does not outweigh the presumption of open judicial proceedings and the prejudice to Spacey’s defense that would occur if he could proceed anonymously,” reports the AP.
Kaplan added that C.D. has disclosed the alleged events to an unknown number of people since they occurred, including sharing his story with Vulture for a 2017 article.
“The evidence suggests that C.D. knowingly and repeatedly took the risk that any of these individuals at one point or another would reveal his true identity in a manner that would bring that identity to wide public attention,” Kaplan ruled.
C.D.’s lawyers argued that being forced to go public would result in PTSD for their client. Kaplan countered by suggesting C.D. would experience that outcome regardless if the case continues.
If C.D. does drop the suit, he would become the second Spacey accuser to do so after a man who claimed the actor groped him in a Nantucket bar in 2016 withdrew his lawsuit.
Fahd
Spacey can afford the right lawyers – first, they get the case removed to federal court; expensive and no fun for the plaintiff, and then they get the judge to rule that it is in the public interest to allow Spacey’s lawyers to put the victim on trial. Sort of all undermines the whole idea behind New York’s CHILD victims’ act. Sad to say, another example of the courts serving the rich. Maybe the law could have been drafted better to avoid these sort of obstacles, and anyway, I hope C.D. appeals the judge’s ruling (that is if the rules of federal civil procedure permit an appeal of this particular form of ruling, blah, blah, blah).
Rugby8
Thank goodness the Court sees this for what it is — a pretense to get Money!!!
Fahd
@Rugby – There’s no indication that the Court thinks that at all. Spacey’s lawyers made a motion that their case would be prejudiced unless the victim were able to be identified and the Court agreed. Too bad for victims of sexual abuse, because Spacey’s lawyers now can and will drag the victim through the mud (see National Enquirer, etc.), setting a chilling example for anyone else who may want to come forward. I hope the victim’s attorneys can and do appeal the judge’s ruling on this motion. ( I believe the victims, which is a point of disagreement between you and I, I suppose. )
Spacey has the money for good lawyers, and he has the money to pay people to defend him in the comments section here.
Whatever happens, Spacey is and will remain a disgraced character forever more – his legacy forever destroyed – a few troll accounts foaming at the mouth in his defense here or really anywhere won’t change that.
cuteguy
What bull. If the victim was female, this would NEVER happen. So much for the so called me too movement. Such a double standard
stanhope
Amen.
wooly101
Good for Spacey. These are such frivolous law suits.
cc423
He is a disgusting predator. Congrats in supporting that.
Rugby8
Absofreakinglutely!!!!
Good for him
Money hungry punks
……PTSD indeed
Vince
Well, we all know Spacey likes em young so I’m not surprised. It’s interesting that this would’ve happened around the same time he molested Rapp who was also 14 at the time.
LumpyPillows
Did he actually touch Rapp?
Kangol2
@LumpyPillow, he picked up Rapp, a 14-year-old, and climbed on top of the child! That sounds like touching to me!
“At that point, Rapp said that Spacey entered the bedroom, picked him up, and climbed on top of him in a sexual advance. Spacey would have been 26 at the time.”
AND
“Rather than saying anything, Rapp said Spacey ‘picked me up like a groom picks up the bride over the threshold. But I don’t, like, squirm away initially, because I’m like, ‘What’s going on?’ And then he lays down on top of me.’”
— “Kevin Spacey Accused of Sexual Misconduct by ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Actor,” by Erin Nyren, Variety, Oct. 29, 2017.
Most tellingly, Spacey did not deny Rapp’s account. Not at all.
Pedophile creep! His behavior is indefensible!
okbye
Is Rapp the one who was at a party at Spacey’s house, not invited by Spacey, and lying in Spacey’s bed when Kevin went to go to bed and found him there?
Cam
@okbye
Except you’re lying. The accusation is….
“Spacey befriended Rapp while they both performed on Broadway shows, invited Rapp over to his apartment for a party, and, at the end of the night, picked Rapp up, placed him on his bed, and climbed on top of him, making a sexual advance. According to public records, Spacey was 26. Rapp was 14.”
If you’re going to troll, try not to say something that is such an obvious lie.
Mwestport
If you give public interviews your no longer anonymous.
mastik8
Well, if he is evading it he’s doing so with his victim’s help.
LumpyPillows
Was he a minor when the sex happened? If so, it is hard to avoid a statutory rape conviction. Why doesn’t the article give his age when the oral sex occurred? If not, this is just frivolous.
ShiningSex
He admitted to some of it but not all so that alone shows what a creep Spacey is. He’s vile.
ShiningSex
He’s a gross pedo.
Rugby8
…..and, you know that because…..???
Kangol2
@Rugby8, he climbed on top of a 14-year-old boy in a sexual advance, and did not deny the allegation, that’s why. Are you defending him?
Rugby8
Good for Spacey!!!
And Rapp has a nerve claiming abuse. 14 years old 2am, sitting around at a party. He was invited into the bedroom and Didn’t Go!!!
Of course, the large (cough, cough) amount of work he’s done since Rent might be fueling his claims
???
Caine
Rapp – in my opinion – is an attention seeking fame whore.
Kangol2
Spacey didn’t deny the allegations. Yet you’re defending him. Why are you defending a pedophile? Seriously? What is wrong with you?
Cam
And let me guess, you’re also the one that says women who are raped deserved it because they were wearing a skirt or were out past midnight.
BoomerMyles
I doubt CD was coerced very hard.
Prowelsh56
Good Lord!