A lawsuit filed against the Directors Guild of America by a director known for his work in such films as “Midnight Rider” and “Class Act” should be dismissed, the DGA states in new court papers.
In May, Judge Jeffery D. McFarland denied a motion by the DGA to dismiss Randall Miller’s breach-of-contract suit and trial currently remains scheduled for June 14, 2027. The filmmaker alleges the DGA wrongfully expelled him in the aftermath of his facing criminal charges in Georgia regarding the 2014 death of a crew member, a judge ruled Saturday.
But in court papers filed with McFarland on Monday consisting of the DGA’s required answer to Miller’s suit, DGA attorneys nonetheless say Miller’s case should be dismissed “with prejudice,” meaning it could not be refiled.
The DGA lawyers’ court papers also cite multiple defenses to Miller’s complaint, including violation of the statute of limitations, that any damages Miller suffered were due to his own “wrongful acts” and not those of the DGA and that the plaintiff’s claims are barred wholly or in part by federal labor law.
But Miller contends in his lawsuit that the guild expelled him without justification after camera assistant Sarah Jones was struck by a CSX freight train while the crew was filming a scene for “Midnight Rider” on a trestle. The singer Gregg Allman biopic that was to star the late William Hurt was later canceled.
In their previous unsuccessful dismissal motion, DGA attorneys argued in their court papers that Miller’s causes of action violated the statute of limitations set by federal law and the National Labor Relations Act.
Miller is a motion picture director with 30 years of experience. The accident occurred during filming in 2014 in which the crew member died. Criminal charges were brought against Miller and his wife, a co-producer on the film, and the plaintiff pleaded guilty to trespass and involuntary manslaughter charges in exchange for charges against his wife being dismissed.
Miller served a year in jail and 10 years supervised probation, conditions of which banned him from serving as a director, first assistant director or supervisor with responsibility for safety in any film production.
After Miller was freed in 2015, the DGA imposed a one-year suspension prohibiting the plaintiff from directing guild signatory films and he was eventually expelled after a second disciplinary proceeding. In his May ruling, the judge said Miller’s claims are based on the DGA’s alleged breach of its “own constitution,” primarily in its handling of the second disciplinary hearing and its expulsion decision.
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