Massage therapist suing Kevin Spacey for sexual assault dies ahead of trial
The anonymous massage therapist who accused disgraced actor Kevin Spacey of sexual battery and assault has died ahead of the trial. And because Spacey’s attorneys almost immediately notified the court, the case could be dismissed, the late accuser’s attorney says.
A trial date in the case has yet to be scheduled.
A notice of his death was filed by Spacey’s attorneys Tuesday in U.S. Central District Court, according to documents obtained by The Times on Wednesday. It’s the latest development in Spacey’s civil case, which was originally filed about a year ago.
Tuesday’s filing said that on Sept. 11, the attorney for the massage therapist informed Spacey’s attorney that the therapist had “recently passed.” But no further information had been given to Spacey’s team. The masseur had been identified in the personal injury lawsuit only as John Doe.
“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,” Doe’s attorney, Genie Harrison, said in a statement to The Times Wednesday, also confirming the plaintiff’s death.
But Harrison characterized the Tuesday filing by Spacey’s team as an “undignified, insensitive and inappropriate” move made in “an attempt to gain the advantage of a ticking clock.”
“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,” Harrison said. “Spacey ignored our request for compassion and filed the notice yesterday without our consent.”
The attorney explained that there is no deadline for filing a party’s death notice, but that filing the notice will trigger a 90-day countdown that could potentially jeopardize the lawsuit.
“That means that unless the estate is substituted in the party’s place, the court may dismiss the case,” Harrison said. “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.”