A judge Tuesday dismissed the “Rust” weapons provider and his company as defendants in a lawsuit brought by the movie’s script supervisor, who alleges she suffered emotional distress while being in proximity to Halyna Hutchins, the cinematographer killed when a prop gun wielded by Alec Baldwin discharged on the film’s New Mexico set in 2021.
Plaintiff Mamie Mitchell sued multiple defendants in Los Angeles Superior Court in November 2021, including the 65-year-old Baldwin and the weapons provider, Seth Kenney, and his firm, PDQ Arm and Prop LLC.
On Tuesday, Judge Maurice Leiter granted a motion by attorneys for Kenney and PDQ to quash the service of summons and of the complaint on those two defendants, finding that none of the causes of action in Mitchell’s complaint give a California judge dominion over them.
“The court does not have general or specific jurisdiction over these defendants,” the judge wrote.
In a sworn declaration, Kenney said he has not lived in California since 2009, that he currently resides in Arizona and that PDQ has headquarters in Arizona and New Mexico.
“I have no ownership interest in any other form of a business entity that conducts business in the state of California and had no such ownership interest at the time plaintiff’s alleged injuries occurred,” Kenney said.
Both sides submitted without argument to Leiter’s ruling.
Baldwin has repeatedly denied culpability in Hutchins’ death, which occurred Oct. 21, 2021, inside a church building on the Western set of “Rust” outside Santa Fe. Baldwin was wielding a prop gun, helping set up camera angles for an upcoming scene, when the weapon discharged, killing Hutchins, 42, and wounding director Joel Souza, now 50.
Mitchell was standing adjacent to Hutchins when the accidental shooting struck Hutchins in the chest, then lodged in one of Souza’s shoulders. Mitchell maintains she suffered emotional distress from being so close to the shooting.
Baldwin has insisted that he was told the gun wasn’t loaded when it was handed to him. He also contends that while he pulled back the hammer of the weapon, he never pulled the trigger. The actor was initially charged along with armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed before special prosecutors who took over the case dismissed his charges. Months later, a grand jury indicted him on involuntary manslaughter.
Gutierrez-Reed, now 26, was tried and convicted of involuntary manslaughter on March 6. She previously was released as a defendant in Mitchell’s case on the same grounds as Kenney and PDQ.