Alec Baldwin's plea to be removed from script supervisor's lawsuit dismissed. Details here
A bullet fired on the sets of 'Rust' hit cinematographer Halyna Hutchins resulting in her death.
A court on Tuesday ruled that negligence and other charges against actor-producer Alec Baldwin can be pursued by script supervisor Mamie Mitchell. On October 21, 2021, Baldwin fired a loaded gun on the New Mexico set of 'Rust' movie in Bonanza City, New Mexico near Santa Fe that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injured writer-director Joel Souza. The gun was a prop and Baldwin was told it was "cold" (without ammunition). As per Deadline, Baldwin had filed a motion in Los Angeles Superior Court to remove himself from the lawsuit filed in November last year by Mitchell, who was present at the spot when the tragic incident occurred.
Judge Michael E. Whitaker also denied the motion to remove Mitchell's claim for punitive damages. “Accordingly, the Court finds plaintiff’s allegations in the SAC [second amended complaint] demonstrates alleged despicable conduct carried out by the demurring defendants with a willful and conscientious disregard of the rights or safety of other sufficient to withstand a motion to strike,” he wrote in his ruling.
Gloria Allred, one of Mitchell's attorneys said. "We are very happy that we won, and that the Court today permitted us, over the objection of Alec Baldwin, to proceed in our lawsuit against him on our theories of assault, intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligence. In addition, the Court, over Mr. Baldwin’s objection, allowed us to proceed against him for punitive damages.”
The tragic incident ignited a debate over the handling of firearms on movie or TV show sets, the resulting dangers, and how to minimise them. There have been proposals by organisations involved in the film business to make sure such tragedies never happen in future.
Halyna's death is not the first tragedy of its kind on a movie set. The son of actor and legendary martial artist Bruce Lee, Brandon Lee, lost his life in a similar incident. He was hit by a .44 calibre slug while shooting a scene for the movie 'The Crow'.