US District Judge Lewis Kaplan ruled on Monday that Kevin Spacey (House Of Cards) must stand trial in a New York federal court in a civil suit filed by actor Anthony Rapp (Rent) that accuses Spacey of alleged sexual assault, battery, and intentionally inflicting emotional distress, according to CNN. The lawsuit is over an alleged incident that occurred in 1986, when Rapp was 14 and Spacey was 26.
Rapp is accusing Spacey of allegedly groping his buttocks and then allegedly placing Rapp on a bed while allegedly putting his body partially on Rapp’s.
Rapp testified on Monday that the alleged incident involved “no kissing, no undressing, no reaching under clothes, and no sexualized statements or innuendo,” according to CNN. He also testified that the alleged incident lasted no more than two minutes.
Kaplan said on Monday that there was “a genuine issue of material fact” as to whether Spacey engaged in forcible touching of Rapp’s “intimate parts,” according to CNN.
While Kaplan will make Spacey stand trial, he also ruled on Monday that Rapp can pursue his allegations of battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress but not assault due to statute of limitations restrictions, according to CNN. Kaplan also denied Rapp’s motion to send the case back to state court, where he originally filed his suit in 2020.
In a legal filing in March, Spacey’s attorneys said that Rapp’s “allegations are, quite simply, false and never occurred,” according to CNN.
Rapp first made his allegations public in 2017, when he told Buzzfeed that Spacey befriended him while they were both acting on Broadway in 1986 and that Spacey allegedly invited him to a party in which at the end of the night, Spacey allegedly made the sexual advance towards him.
At the time, Spacey responded with a tweet in which he said he did not remember the alleged encounter and also came out as gay.
According to CNN, the trial for the civil suit will begin on October 4th.