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Both actors are now headed to Manhattan federal
court, where jury selection is scheduled to begin on Thursday in
Rapp's $40 million civil lawsuit over the incident, which
allegedly occurred when he was 14.
Spacey, 63, has denied Rapp's accusations and other sexual
misconduct charges.
"We look forward to a trial by jury with actual evidence rather
than trial by social media," his lawyer Jennifer Keller said on
Wednesday.
Rapp, who starred in the Broadway musical "Rent," alleged in a
November 2020 lawsuit that Spacey forcibly touched him during a
party at Spacey's New York home. He said he left after the brief
encounter.
Now 50, Rapp is seeking compensatory and punitive damages for
battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Spacey won Oscars for best actor in "American Beauty" and best
supporting actor in "The Usual Suspects," but his career largely
ended after more than 20 men accused him of sexual misconduct.
Netflix dropped him from its political drama "House of Cards",
and Christopher Plummer replaced him in the role of J. Paul
Getty in "All the Money in the World" just a few weeks before
the movie's scheduled release.
Spacey faces a criminal trial in London next year after pleading
not guilty to five sex offense charges over alleged assaults
between 2005 and 2013.
He was charged with indecent assault in Massachusetts in 2018
over allegations he sexually abused an 18-year-old man at a
Nantucket bar in 2016, but prosecutors later dropped the charges
after the alleged victim refused to testify.
(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
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