Kevin Spacey Ordered to Pay $31 Million Over ‘House of Cards’ Ouster

Kevin Spacey was ordered to pay a total of $31 million over his firing from Netflix’s “House of Cards,” an arbitration judge ruled on Monday.

Spacey was fired from the Netflix drama in 2017 after multiple accusations of sexual assault. He was written out of the show’s final season in 2018, which instead focused on his co-star Robin Wright.

The accusations, which have torpedoed Spacey’s career, included groping of a production assistant and led MRC, the studio behind “House of Cards,” to conduct an investigation, ultimately terminating both his acting and producing contracts. The dispute eventually landed in court, and Spacey was found to have violated MRC’s sexual harassment policy, according to the Los Angeles court petition.

Under the terms of the ruling, MRC was awarded $29.5 million in damages and $1.4 million in attorneys’ fees and costs. The arbitrator’s ruling was actually made in October 2020. An appeal by Spacey was denied earlier this month. The ruling became public Monday when MRC filed a petition in a Los Angeles Court to have it confirmed.

“The safety of our employees, sets and work environments is of paramount importance to MRC and why we set out to push for accountability. We thank Michael Kump and Gregory Korn of Kinsella Weitzman Iser Kump Holley LLP for their commitment and hard work in this case,” MRC said in a statement.

“It was a privilege representing MRC in this matter. MRC stood its ground, pursued this case doggedly, and obtained the right result in the end,” Kump added.

The Wall Street Journal was first to report on the ruling.