Five years after “Rent” star Anthony Rapp publicly accused the Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey of sexual assault when Rapp was a youngster, a jury will hear the case in federal court in Latest York.

The civil trial is scheduled to begin Thursday in downtown Manhattan on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Latest York. Here’s what you want to know concerning the lawsuit.

What are Rapp’s allegations?

Rapp filed a lawsuit against Spacey (whose real name is Kevin Spacey Fowler) in September 2020. Rapp alleged that Spacey acted to gratify his sexual desire during an encounter at a Manhattan party in 1986, when Rapp was 14 and Spacey would have been 26 or 27.

Rapp is looking for compensatory and punitive damages. The trial will center on Rapp’s claims of battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The judge assigned to the case dismissed a sexual assault claim because Rapp brought it too late, in line with a court document filed in June.

“Mr. Rapp claims that Mr. Fowler lifted him up, that Mr. Fowler’s hand his [sic] ‘grazed’ Mr. Rapp’s clothed buttocks for seconds as he did so, that Mr. Fowler placed Mr. Rapp back-down on a bed, and Mr. Fowler then briefly placed his own clothed body partially beside and partially across Mr. Rapp’s,” in line with the court document.

Rapp “wriggled out” and left the party. He testified at his deposition that “there was no kissing, no undressing, no reaching under clothes, and no sexualized statements or innuendo,” in line with the court document. He alleges the encounter lasted not more than two minutes.

Spacey denies Rapp’s allegations.

Rapp first publicly detailed his allegations in a BuzzFeed News article published on Oct. 29, 2017. Within the article, Rapp is quoted as saying: “He picked me up like a groom picks up the bride over the brink. But I don’t, like, squirm away initially, because I’m like, ‘What’s happening?’ After which he lays down on top of me.”

“He was attempting to seduce me,” Rapp added. “I don’t know if I might have used that language. But I used to be aware that he was attempting to get with me sexually.”

In a tweet sent a day after the article was published, Spacey said he didn’t remember the alleged encounter, writing partially: “If I did behave then as he describes, I owe him the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior, and I’m sorry for the sentiments he describes having carried with him all these years.”

Who’s the judge?

District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan will oversee the trial. President Bill Clinton nominated Kaplan to the U.S. District Court in May 1994, and Kaplan was confirmed by the Senate in August of that 12 months, in line with the Federal Judicial Center.

Kaplan has presided over several notable court cases during the last quarter-century, including involving detainees at Guantanamo Bay and Latest York City organized crime. 

Lately, Kaplan has been assigned to legal matters that made national news, including the case of E. Jean Carroll, the author who accused former President Donald Trump of rape and sued him for defamation. (Trump has denied the allegation, and the case is ongoing.)

In a written order on June 6, Kaplan rejected Spacey’s bid to dismiss Rapp’s lawsuit and said the Oscar-winning actor must stand trial. Within the order, the judge wrote partially that “the record … raises a real issue of fabric fact as as to whether Mr. Fowler acted ‘for the aim of gratifying … sexual desire’” in the course of the alleged encounter.

Kaplan allowed Rapp’s claims of battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress to go to trial, but he dismissed a standard law sexual assault allegation, saying that claim was not covered by the Child Victims Act in Latest York state in 2019, which temporarily allowed people to make claims which may normally be barred by the statute of limitations. 

What are Spacey’s other legal woes?

In the UK, Spacey faces charges of sexually assaulting three men a decade or more ago. He pleaded not guilty in July during a hearing at London’s Central Criminal Court. He is predicted to go on trial there starting June 6, 2023, in line with The Associated Press.

The sexual misconduct incidents allegedly took place in town from March 2005 to August 2008, in addition to one other incident in western England in April 2013. He has denied 4 counts of sexual assault and one count of causing an individual to interact in penetrative sexual intercourse without consent.

In a separate matter, a Los Angeles judge ruled in August that Spacey and his production corporations must pay the producers behind the Netflix series “House of Cards” near $31 million due to losses incurred by his 2017 firing for what the streaming giant said was the sexual harassment of crew members, in line with The AP.

Spacey, who starred on “House of Cards” because the dastardly President Frank Underwood, denies the harassment allegations.

Spacey was also accused of groping the son of a former Boston television news anchor at a bar in Massachusetts in 2016, but the fees were dropped in July 2019, with the district attorney citing the “unavailability of the complaining witness,” in line with court documents.

Spacey, 63, was once one among Hollywood’s biggest stars. He won Oscars for “The Usual Suspects” and “American Beauty,” and he helped turn Netflix right into a destination for high-quality original shows with “House of Cards.” 

But his acting profession got here to an abrupt halt after Rapp and other accusers got here forward with allegations of sexual abuse or harassment within the early days of the #MeToo movement.

Rapp, 50, currently stars on the Paramount+ series “Star Trek: Discovery.” He rose to prominence after acting in the unique Broadway production of “Rent” (later reprising his role within the 2005 film version) and appearing in Richard Linklater’s “Dazed and Confused.”