Kevin Spacey insurance trial over imploded ‘House of Cards’ season opens in Los Angeles
kevin spacey is central to a high-stakes trial that began on March 1, 2026 in Los Angeles, a lawsuit that will determine whether Media Rights Capital is owed upward of $100 million for losses tied to the show’s sixth season. The star’s testimony and sealed medical evidence have shifted the case from an employment dispute to a potential industry-defining fight over how production insurance treats scandal and illness.
Trial day: $100 million question and the reopened scrutiny of the star
The trial, which kicked off on March 1, 2026 in Los Angeles, will determine whether Media Rights Capital, the producer behind the series, is owed more than $100 million for the sixth season. The star’s testimony is expected to reopen scrutiny of what derailed his appearance on the show, and the proceedings focus on whether losses flowed from an insured “sickness” or from the business fallout after public allegations.
MRC’s argument versus Fireman’s Fund over a covered “sickness”
Media Rights Capital argues that Spacey’s sex addiction constituted a covered “sickness” under its production policy and therefore entitled the company to a nine-figure payout. Fireman’s Fund, the insurer that underwrote the sixth season, counters that the losses were caused by reputational damage and business decisions following widely publicized allegations of sexual assault. The policy’s definition of “sickness” is not spelled out in detail in the contract and is a major focus of the litigation.
Key timeline: reports in late 2017, production pause and rehab admission
A report published on Oct. 29, 2017 detailed alleged sexual abuse and assault by Spacey across several decades. Two days later, Media Rights Capital put production on hiatus. On Nov. 2 a separate report accused Spacey of sexual assault involving crew members; that same day the actor checked himself into The Meadows, described in the record as a $28, 000-a-month rehab facility in Arizona. By the time the allegations surfaced, the first two episodes of the sixth season had already been shot.
Arbitration settlement, medical records and a sealed declaration
MRC had previously won an arbitration award of more than $31 million against Spacey for breaching his contract by violating anti-harassment policies. As MRC’s insurance claims stalled—courts dismissed the company’s claims twice in November 2023 and a judge warned there would be “another bite at the apple but not a fourth”—the producer struck a deal that made Spacey’s cooperation pivotal. In exchange for reducing the arbitration award to $1 million, Spacey agreed to turn over his medical records and to provide a court declaration in which he said he may have killed himself if forced to return for the final season; further details of that declaration are sealed. MRC’s lawyers have said that the actor’s cooperation materially changed the nature of the insurer dispute.
Rewriting the show, contractual moves and potential industry impact
After the allegations, MRC rewrote the entire sixth season, removing Spacey’s character and reimagining the show’s conclusion. A company with contractual tiebreaker rights exercised those rights in early November 2017, and on Nov. 4 the producer officially suspended Spacey while his lawyer maintained he was “available, willing and able” to return. A victory for Media Rights Capital in this trial would have major implications for how production insurance policies cover scandal-driven losses and how studios and insurers allocate risk on future projects.
The courtroom will now parse whether the immediate cause of the show’s disruption was a covered medical incapacity or the wave of media fallout and attendant business choices. With the insurer contesting the sickness claim and the producer pressing for a nine-figure recovery, the outcome could reshape contractual and insurance practices for years to come.
