Sexual assault civil lawsuit against Kevin Spacey dropped

BOSTON — A man who accused Kevin Spacey of groping him at a resort bar on Nantucket island has abruptly dropped a civil lawsuit that was filed against the actor just last week. But the criminal case against Spacey for indecent assault and battery stemming from the alleged incident continues with a court hearing set for Monday.

The Academy Award-winning actor has pleaded not guilty to the criminal charges and denied the allegation.

The accuser’s attorney, Mitchell Garabedian of Boston, provided notice of the voluntary dismissal of the civil lawsuit in a court document filed in Superior Court and sent to media Friday. The filing says the dismissal is made ”with prejudice and without costs to any party.”

“Plaintiff states that because no adverse party has served an answer or motion for summary judgment in this matter, plaintiff is voluntarily dismissing this civil action by filing this notice of dismissal,” the document reads.

No further explanation was provided on the decision to drop the civil lawsuit. Garabedian declined to comment, citing the pending criminal case.

Monday’s hearing could be critical to the criminal case. The accuser has been ordered by a judge to turn over a cellphone to the defense by that date. Spacey’s lawyers have alleged the accuser deleted text messages they say would support Spacey’s claims of innocence.

Garabedian told the judge in court documents last month that the phone used by the accuser at the time of the alleged groping at a Nantucket bar is missing.

The young man and his parents “have searched all the places where such a phone may have been stored. They have not found the phone,” Garabedian said.

Screenshots from the accuser’s phone – turned over to law enforcement and later attached to court documents – show text messages that he exchanged with his then-girlfriend as the alleged groping took place.

But Spacey’s attorney, Alan Jackson, has said it appears the accuser deleted certain messages between him and his then-girlfriend from his phone before sending screenshots of conversations to an officer investigating the case.

The criminal case goes back to November 2017, when former Boston TV anchor Heather Unruh called a press conference to accuse Spacey of getting her then 18-year-old son drunk and then sexually assaulting him at the Club Car, a popular bar and restaurant on the resort island where her son worked, in July 2016.

It’s the only criminal case that has been brought against Spacey since several sexual misconduct allegations crippled his career in 2017.

Read more at usatoday.com.