BONANZA CITY, NEW MEXICO — The family of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Alec Baldwin and others involved in the production of Rust, according to The New York Times.
Allegations of ‘corner cutting’ listed by the family’s lawyers include failing to thoroughly check the firearm before use and failing to receive it directly from or in the presence of the production’s armorer.
Also listed were failure to keep all personnel a safe distance from the line of fire and failure to have the camera operated remotely when the firearm was aimed at or near the camera.
Lawyers for Baldwin have previously attempted to dismiss a separate lawsuit alleging he should have checked the gun was safe to handle on the basis he had been told it was ‘cold,’ meaning it did not contain any live bullets.
However, in a press conference cited by Yahoo, lawyers for Hutchins’s family argued that ‘he has significant portion of liability’ and countered his claim in an interview with ABC that he had not actually pulled the gun’s trigger with an animation, published in full by Deadline, that stated “a single action revolver can only be fired by cocking the hammer and pulling the trigger.” “On the wider case, attorney Brian Panish said Hutchin's family is seeking ‘substantial’ and ‘fair’ compensation as her husband had “lost his long-term wife who was the love of his life, and his son has lost a mother.” Baldwin's attorney Aaron Dyer, meanwhile, said on Tuesday afternoon that “any claim that Alec was reckless is entirely false.”
