Alec Baldwin and other producers on the film Rust filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit alleging that Baldwin’s actions on-set were a direct assault on one of the film’s employees.
The motion, filed in the Los Angeles County Superior Court on Monday, aims to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Rust’s script supervisor, Mamie Mitchell, who alleges that she “sustained serious physical trauma and shock and injury to her nervous system and person” due to being in close proximity to the shooting. The motion offers the first look at the legal defense that Baldwin may use to defend himself from culpability in the shooting that led to the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
“It is completely illogical for plaintiff to contend defendant Mr. Baldwin received a prop gun that everyone including plaintiff and defendant Mr. Baldwin expected to be ‘cold,'” the motion argues, “while at the same time stating that Mr. Baldwin’s conduct was intentional in accidentally firing a live round.”
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The motion recognizes that the Rust shooting was a “terrible tragedy.” However, the motion challenges whether Mitchell has “any legal right to any monetary recovery in this Court.”
Mitchell’s late November lawsuit alleged assault, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and deliberate infliction of harm.
Baldwin’s lawyers challenge this, noting that while Mitchell alleges trauma, the facts of the case resemble negligence, not malice. “[Mitchell] alleges facts suggestive of negligence (i.e., a claim exclusively subject to New Mexico’s workers’ compensation system), not assault,” the motion argues.
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If Mitchell wants relief, the motion argues, she must seek it through New Mexico’s labor laws.
Mitchell’s lawsuit is not the only one to arise from the fatal on-set shooting. Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed filed a lawsuit against the ammunition supplier in December, alleging that Seth Kenney and his company PDQ Arm & Prop mixed up live and dummy rounds.
