Actor already faces a criminal charge for the alleged incident at a Nantucket bar in 2016

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

A man who has accused Kevin Spacey of groping him as a teenager, at a Massachusetts restaurant in July 2016 has filed a civil lawsuit against the actor, describing him “touching and fondling” his genitals and citing “severe mental distress and emotional injuries” as a result of the unwanted attention.

The suit, filed in Nantucket superior court on Wednesday, seeks a jury trial to award undisclosed financial damages over the alleged incident in the establishment on the island off the coast of Cape Cod.

Spacey, 59, already faces a criminal charge for the alleged incident, for which he appeared in court earlier in June. He has pleaded not guilty to a charge of indecent assault and battery and his lawyers said the allegations were “patently false”. If convicted for the criminal charges, he could face up to two and a half years in jail.

The civil complaint this week asserts that Spacey bought the plaintiff “multiple alcoholic beverages” in the bar area of the Nantucket restaurant where he worked after they were introduced to one another.

In the early morning of 8 July 2016, the suit claims: “Defendant Kevin Spacey Fowler, without the plaintiff’s consent, sexually assaulted the plaintiff by, among other things, defendant Kevin Spacey Fowler touching and fondling the plaintiff’s private areas, including the plaintiff’s genitals.”

The suit, signed by the anonymous man’s lawyer, Mitchell Garabedian, accuses Spacey of “explicit sexual behaviour and lewd and lascivious conduct with the plaintiff” at the Club Car restaurant in Nantucket.

As a result of Spacey’s alleged behaviour, the plaintiff “suffers, has suffered and will continue to suffer in the future severe mental distress and emotional injuries”, states the suit. It also claims he suffered “financial expenses for medical and therapeutic care and treatment; long-term lost earning capacity; as well as other damages”.

By engaging in the alleged behaviour, Spacey “acted intentionally so as to cause harmful and offensive contact with the plaintiff”, claims the suit.

The suit demands judgment against Spacey for each of the claims listed “in an amount to be determined by a jury, plus costs, interest, attorneys’ fees and such other and further relief as the court deems just and equitable”.

The allegations first emerged after former Boston TV anchor Heather Unruh claimed the actor got her son drunk and sexually assaulted him.