Kevin Spacey's Late Accuser's Lawyer Slams Actor For Filing His Death Notice
Sep. 18 2019, Updated 10:04 p.m. ET
The attorney for Kevin Spacey's sexual abuse accuser is blasting the actor now that the man known as "John Doe" in legal papers has died.
Legal eagle Genie Harrison exclusively told RadarOnline.com in a statement that after her client died, Spacey's attorney team filed notice of the death even though the victim's lawyers told them not to.
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, the massage therapist who accused the actor, 60, of forced sexual contact “recently passed” from unknown causes, according to a notice filed in U.S. District Court by the actor’s attorneys.
In September 2018, the alleged victim — named in the lawsuit as John Doe — charged Spacey with sexual assault, battery and false imprisonment.
In court documents obtained by RadarOnline.com, the masseur claimed Spacey grabbed his hand during a private massage two years prior, and made him touch his penis.
This May, a California federal judge allowed the case to move forward despite Spacey’s complaint that the plaintiff’s identity was being hidden.
Now, Harrison has said, "I regret being forced to respond to Kevin Spacey’s undignified, insensitive and inappropriate public filing of the notice of death of our client, John Doe.
"It is true that Mr. Doe recently died. His untimely death was, to his family, a devastating shock that they are struggling to process and is so recent that they have not yet held his funeral service."
Harrison continued, "Out of professional responsibility, we notified Spacey’s counsel of Mr. Doe’s passing. We explained our intent to allow his family more time to get past their immediate, paralyzing grief and begin settling his affairs before we filed a death notice with the court — which is our prerogative as his counsel. Spacey ignored our request for compassion and filed the notice yesterday without our consent.
"While there is no court deadline for filing a party’s death notice, filing triggers a 90-day countdown. That means that unless the estate is substituted in the party’s place, the court may dismiss the case.
"Filing the notice yesterday was unnecessary and contemptible. I’m not surprised, however, that Spacey prematurely filed the notice in an attempt to gain the advantage of a ticking clock. Mr. Doe’s family must now open his estate at the same time as planning a funeral and processing their grief.
"Mr. Doe was a dignified, kind, middle-aged man traumatized by Spacey’s alleged sexually depraved attack. As a result of this case, other victims from around the world have reached out to our firm. Mr. Doe believed their harrowing stories, and in his final months he looked forward to standing up for all of them. His fight for justice is still very much alive," Harrison said in the statement.
Harrison added, "My firm grieves the loss of Mr. Doe, who was truly a wonderful client and human being. He brought light and love every time he visited our office, and we were lucky to know him."
The trial was set to begin on June 23, 2020.
Spacey's fans were shocked when the Oscar winner found his career in tatters after sexual misdeed claims. In fall 2017, Sony completely cut Spacey out from the film All the Money in the World and replaced him with Christopher Plummer.
William Little previously alleged the former House of Cards actor groped him in a Nantucket, Mass. bar in 2016 when he was underage.
But Massachusetts prosecutors filed a formal request on July 17 to drop Little's sexual charges against Spacey due to the “unavailability of the complaining witness.” On July 5, Little also dropped his civil lawsuit against the actor.
It’s unclear if John Doe’s identity will be disclosed now that he has passed, or if the case will move forward without him as an able witness.
In October 2017, Spacey came out, saying he'd had relationships with "both men and women…and I choose now to live as a gay man."
He recently was seen basking in his fans' attention in Rome.