Kevin Spacey to pay $1 million to House of Cards producers over firing

Kevin Spacey has agreed to pay $1 million (£792,000) to House of Cards producers after being fired over allegations of sexual misconduct.

The American Beauty actor was previously ordered to pay $31 million (£24.5 million) to MRC, the production company behind the Netflix series, after the sexual harassment allegations in 2017 caused the collapse of the show the following year.

However, it has now been revealed that both parties worked out a settlement last year. Under the agreement, Spacey, 64, will pay $1 million to MRC in instalments over multiple years.

In exchange, Spacey has agreed to join forces with MRC officials to help them score a payout from their insurance company.

He will serve as a witness in the insurance case, be examined by doctors for both legal teams and provide detailed medical records.

MRC's lawyers filed an amended lawsuit against Fireman's Fund insurance on 2 January in which they claimed that Spacey was not available to take part in the production because he was being treated for anxiety and depression.

Attorneys for Fireman's filed a motion to dismiss the amended complaint last week. They noted that MRC claimed during its arbitration against Spacey that he was dropped for violating their sexual harassment policy, not because of his mental health.

"Plaintiffs have yet to present a consistent description of what caused them to remove Kevin Spacey from HOC. Instead, they are still running through the range of possible - albeit inconsistent - scenarios on which to blame their loss," Fireman's lawyers wrote, reports Variety. "After years of trying to state a theoretically viable claim, it seems that they've completely lost sight of what actually occurred and their obligation to plead the truth."

Spacey, who played Frank Underwood on House of Cards, left the production of season six in chaos after he was accused of sexual misconduct. He was fired from the show, causing episodes to be scrapped and the season to be largely rewritten.

The actor has always denied all allegations of sexual misconduct. He has won most of the lawsuits against him, while others were dropped or dismissed.