Kevin Spacey is currently dealing with a criminal case for indecent assault and battery, but three months before he was charged, the actor was faced with a lawsuit from an anonymous massage therapist who says they were forced to grab the actor's genitals twice during a session at a private home in Malibu.
On Thursday, Spacey requested that the case is dismissed according to The Hollywood Reporter with his lawyer saying that Spacey will be "severely prejudiced if the Plaintiff remains anonymous." They add that because there is no accusation of threatened harm, "the party more vulnerable to threats and privacy invasion is [Spacey] given his public profile."
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In criminal law, the accused usually have the right to know who their accusers are. However, the civil nature of this case places the anonymity of the plaintiff at a priority. But as Spacey is being taken to federal court, his legal team accuses the protection of the plaintiff as violating "the longstanding requirement of judicial proceedings being open to the public, and multiple Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, including the requirement that the Complaint identify the names of the parties and that a case be litigated by the real party in interest."