By Lisa Richwine
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Attorneys for Alec Baldwin and other producers of the movie “Rust” are asking a court to dismiss a civil lawsuit filed by a script supervisor who was on the set when the actor fatally shot a cinematographer.
In a filing in Los Angeles Superior Court on Monday, the attorneys said the claim by Mamie Mitchell should be thrown out because there was no evidence that Baldwin or any of the producers intended harm. Baldwin was the lead actor and a producer of the independent film, a Western.
“Despite Plaintiff’s attempt to label claims as intentional, nothing about Plaintiff’s allegations suggest that any of Defendants intentionally committed harmful conduct,” the filing said.
Mitchell claimed in a lawsuit filed in November that Baldwin should have checked the Colt .45 revolver he was holding to make sure it did not include live ammunition. Baldwin has said the assistant director told him the gun was “cold,” or safe to use and that he did not pull the trigger Mitchell, who said she was in the line of fire, alleges assault, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and deliberate infliction of harm and is seeking unspecified damages in the lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court.
Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed and director Joel Souza was wounded when the gun discharged as Baldwin was rehearing on the New Mexico film set.
Mitchell, who said she was in the line of fire, alleges assault, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and deliberate infliction of harm, and is seeking unspecified damages in the lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court.
Gloria Allred, Mitchell’s attorney, said on Tuesday that the claim should be allowed to proceed.
The producers are “trying to avoid explaining their conduct before a judge and a jury in a court of law,” she said in a statement.
(Reporting by Lisa Richwine in Los Angeles; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
