Alec Baldwin, 'Rust' Producers Sued by Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins' Family for Wrongful Death on Film Set

Halyna Hutchins' estate has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Alec Baldwin and Rust Productions in connection with a deadly gunshot on the set of the film in which Baldwin starred and produced in October.

During a news conference in Los Angeles on Tuesday, the Hutchins estate's lawyers announced the charges, with attorney Brian Panish claiming that Alec Baldwin and others are "responsible for the set's safety and whose irresponsible cost-cutting conduct led to Halyna Hutchins' needless and terrible death."

Alec Baldwin Now Facing Lawsuit From Hutchins Family

Hutchins' estate claims in legal documents obtained by ET that the defendants had the power to prevent her death if they had only held their duty to protect the safety of every individual on a set where firearms were present sacrosanct rather than cutting corners on safety procedures where human lives were at stake, rushing to stay on schedule and dismissing numerous safety complaints.

Hiring inexperienced and unqualified armorers or weapons masters, requiring the film's armorer to split time as an assistant props master, establishing and adhering to unreasonably rushed production schedules, and employing unqualified and inexperienced crew and staff that were responsible for safety during the production were among the cited violations, according to the ET Online.

On the set of the Western picture, Alec Baldwin, film's producer and star, was practicing a stunt when a pretend gun he was carrying went off, killed Hutchins, 42, and wounded director Joel Souza.

Alec Baldwin was practicing a scenario that involved pulling a pistol and aiming it at the camera on a church pew, according to records provided by the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office in October. Souza informed officers that Hutchins and Souza were looking at the camera angle. Hutchins was standing behind Souza, who had been shot in the shoulder.

On the set, three individuals would normally handle weapons, according to Souza. Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the film's armorer, would inspect the weapons first, then assistant director Dave Halls, who would then deliver a firearm to an actor for his or her role, as per USA Today.

Rust Production Accused of Flouting Safety Standards

Alec Baldwin is accused of flouting industry standards for weapon safety together with a slew of co-defendants, including armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed and assistant director David Halls as well as production firms and producers.

According to industry guidelines, weapons should never be directed at someone "until required to do so on camera." He further claimed that Baldwin had refused firearms training and that the film's producers, which included Baldwin, were cutting corners and speeding up the production.

In addition, the complaint claims that a group of camera operators abandoned the film overstated worries about lax safety measures and that at least two more unintentional gun discharges and an inadvertent sound effects explosion occurred on the set.
According to the complaint, Lane Luper, one of the cameramen who walked off the job, contacted unit production manager Katherine "Row" Walters days before Hutchins' murder to express his worry, Fox News reported.