A lawsuit filed by a script supervisor who was standing next to cinematographer Halyna Hutchins when she was fatally shot with a prop weapon fired by actor Alec Baldwin on the set of the film “Rust” was pared Thursday by a judge who also declined to strike the punitive damages and said he wants more briefing on other parts of her case.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael E. Whitaker tossed Mamie Mitchell’s claim for deliberate infliction of harm.
“Deliberate infliction of harm is not an established cause of action in either California or New Mexico,” the judge wrote.
But Whitaker also said he wants the additional briefing to address whether under New Mexico law, Mitchell’s allegation that Anjul Nigam and Brittany House Pictures provided the gun to Baldwin is sufficient to impose liability on them for assault and intentional infliction of emotional distress. He scheduled another hearing for July 14.
The fourth cause of action, for negligence, will remain in the case because the judge rejected the producers’ argument that the Mitchell attorneys were unspecific in their court papers.
In yet another ruling, the judge denied a motion by Nigam and Brittany House to strike Mitchell’s claims for punitive damages against those two defendants.
The judge noted that Mitchell alleges the ammunition, including the gun discharged by Baldwin, had regularly been left unattended throughout the filming prior to the accidental shooting and that loaded firearms had been used for target practice by crew members in spite of safety protocols that Nigam and Brittany House neglected to enforce.
“The court finds the first amended complaint alleges facts sufficient to establish despicable conduct carried out by (Nigam and Brittany House) with a willful and conscious disregard of the rights or safety of others,” the judge wrote.
The attorneys for Nigam and Brittany House Pictures had argued in their court papers that there were insufficient facts to support any of the four causes of action as they pertain to their clients. The lawyers also maintained that there was no evidence of “vile, base, contemptible, miserable, wretched or loathsome conduct” on the part of their clients to support the punitive damages claim.
“Defendants are not mentioned in the factual allegations, much less alleged to have been directly involved in any of the alleged conduct,” the two producers’ attorneys state in their court papers. “The only allegation against Anjul Nigam and Brittany House Pictures is that they were producers of the film `Rust.”’
Nigam was involved in the financing of the film during pre-production and his job was finished before the shooting of “Rust” began last Oct. 6, according to the two producers’ attorneys’ court papers.
Mitchell*s original suit was filed Nov. 17, alleging that she was “standing in the line of fire when the gun went off.” She then filed an amended suit on Feb. 8. The 64-year-old Baldwin is one of the defendants.
Hutchins, 42, was killed on Oct. 21 while Baldwin, a producer and star of “Rust,” was helping to prepare camera angles for a scene on the film’s set near Santa Fe, New Mexico. Baldwin fired a weapon which was supposed to contain only blank rounds but discharged a lead bullet that struck Hutchins in the chest then lodged in the shoulder of director Joel Souza, 48.
Mitchell’s suit alleges specific wrongdoing by Baldwin, claiming he fired the weapon during the rehearsal “even though the upcoming scene to be filmed did not call for the cocking and firing of a firearm.”
The suit also claims Baldwin should have assumed the gun was loaded unless “it was demonstrated to him or checked by him” that it was not loaded.