Kevin Spacey to Pay $31 Million For Breaching Sexual Harassment Policy

Last year, according to court documents, Kevin Spacey was ordered to pay approximately $31 million to MRC, the studio behind House of Cards, for breach of contract for violating their sexual harassment policy.

Information about the settlement was discovered Monday following MRC's filing of a petition in the Los Angeles Superior Court confirming the award, according to People.

In the settlement, Spacey and his production companies M. Profitt Productions and Trigger Street Productions were required to pay $29.5 million in damages, plus $1.2 million in attorneys' fees and $235,000 in additional costs, following MRC's cutting ties with the actor when multiple allegations of sexual harassment were made against him.

Spacey was initially suspended from his Netflix series in 2017 following reports that he was responsible for creating a toxic work environment by making crude comments on set as well as allegedly assaulting young male crew members, the magazine reports.

This would lead the company to eventually terminate their contract with Spacey, who was then written out of House of Cards for its sixth and final season. The season was also reduced from 13 to eight episodes, which the company claimed caused "substantial losses," due to Spacey's behavior, and led it to file an arbitration action against the actor for breach of contract.

The petition states that the arbitrator found the witnesses to Spacey's behavior to be credible (with one exception). "The arbitrator found that Spacey's conduct constituted a material breach of his acting and executive producing agreements with MRC and that his breaches excused MRC's obligations to pay him any further compensation in connection with the show," it read.

In a statement released Monday, MRC made clear that the safety of its employees is of "paramount importance" to the company and motivated its push for accountability.

"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," said attorney Michael J. Kump of Kinsella Weitzman Iser Kump Holley LLP.