19 replies to this topic

[CNJRoss]

Deadline.com, 11/25:

‘Midnight Rider’ Director, Producer Seek Escape From Trespass Case

 

Despite settling with the family of camera assistant Sarah Jones last week, Midnight Rider’s director and producer are still trying to escape the sights of rail company CSX. Randall Miller and Jody Savin today asked a Georgia court to dismiss them and their business entities from a cross-claim by CSX, whose remaining involvement in the ongoing civil suit filed by Jones’ family has kept the filmmakers tethered to the wrongful death case.

 

CSX accused Miller, Savin, Unclaimed Freight Productions, and Film Allman, LLC in September of intentional trespassing leading up to the February 20 death of 27-year-old camera assistant Jones. Jones died and several others were injured when a freight train collided into a hospital bed and equipment that the Midnight Rider crew had placed on CSX-owned tracks.

 

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[CNJRoss]

AP via The New York Times, 3/9:

 

Director of Allman Film Pleads Guilty in Train Crash Death

JESUP, Ga. — A year after a freight train plowed into crew members for a movie about singer Gregg Allman, killing a young camera assistant, the film's director was sentenced to two years in jail Monday as part of a plea deal.

 

In a rare case of a filmmaker being prosecuted for a death on a movie set, "Midnight Rider" director Randall Miller pleaded guilty to charges of involuntary manslaughter and criminal trespassing as part of the last-minute deal in southeast Georgia.

 

Prosecutors agreed to drop charges against Miller's wife and business partner, Jody Savin. The movie's executive producer, Jay Sedrish, also pleaded guilty and got 10 years on probation.

 

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[lunarwhite]

Here is an article about the legal results of the tragedy.

http://www.thedailyb...arah-jones.html

[CNJRoss]

Variety, 3/10:
 

‘Midnight Rider’ Trial: Video Shows Horrifying Moments Before Train Crash

 

Newly released footage captured by a camera on the set of “Midnight Rider” captures a crew on a train trestle scrambling as they hear the sounds of an approaching train.

 

Also released was footage of the actual scene from the movie, a biopic of rocker Gregg Allman. In the scene, Allman — played by William Hurt — dreams he is in a hospital bed on a train trestle and sees a younger version of himself nearby, with a guitar.

 

Continue here w/video links.

[CNJRoss]

NTSB news release:

 

NTSB Finds Trespassing to be the Probable Cause of Movie Set Accident in Jesup, Ga.

 

 

 

March 24, 2015

 

The National Transportation Safety Board today issued its final report on the Feb. 20, 2014 accident in Jesup, Ga., in which a crew member was killed during the filming of a motion picture. The Board found that the probable cause was the film crew’s unauthorized entry onto CSX Transportation’s right-of-way to film at the Altamaha River Bridge, despite CSX’s repeated denial of permission.

 

The release of the report came during the first day of a two-day NTSB forum, Trains & Trespassing: Ending Tragic Encounters, which explores the dangers of trespassing on railroad property.

 

The train was traveling at 56 mph in a 70 mph zone when it struck a prop bed that was to be used in the movie that had earlier been placed across the tracks. Debris from the bed struck some crewmembers on the bridge walkway. One film crew member was killed and six others were injured.

 

Contributing to the accident was the adjacent property owner’s actions to facilitate the film crew’s access to the bridge and the CSX right-of-way.

“Americans have a longstanding affinity with railroads and railroad tracks,” said NTSB Board Chairman Christopher A. Hart. “But train tracks are private property and are dangerous places where trains kill and injure hundreds of people every year.”

 

According to Operation Lifesaver, rail trespassing deaths surged 22 percent last year.

 

The full report can be found here: http://www.ntsb.gov/...es/rab1501.aspx

 

[CNJRoss]

OSHA Region 4 news release, 9/16:

 

OSHA safety citations upheld for 'Midnight Rider' production company
Film Allman LLC cited for willful, serious safety violations following worker fatality, injuries

 

 

ATLANTA - Sarah Jones, a 27-year-old camera assistant, was killed while trying to escape an oncoming freight train during the filming of a scene on Feb. 20, 2014, for the movie "Midnight Rider," a biopic based on the life of musician Gregg Allman. Eight other workers were injured.

 

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited Film Allman LLC in August 2014 for one willful and one serious safety violation for exposing employees to struck-by and fall hazards.

 

Judge Sharon D. Calhoun of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission upheld those citations on Sept. 15.

 

Kurt Petermeyer, OSHA's regional administrator for the Southeast, issued the following statement today about the case:

 

"Bad management decisions have real and lasting consequences, and when those decisions involve safety, the consequences can be tragic. The death of Sarah Jones is particularly disheartening because it was entirely preventable.

 

"Film Allman's management blatantly disregarded their obligation to ensure the safety of their crew and cast. They were fully aware that the railroad tracks were live, and that they did not have permission to film there. While yesterday's decision cannot correct or reverse the terrible events of February 2014, we hope that it will serve as a reminder to the film industry that safety has an important, necessary role on every set and in every workplace."

 

Docket Number: OSHRC 14-1385

 

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[KevinKorell]

An update to this story in Variety Magazine:

‘Midnight Rider’ Filmmakers Fault CSX in Lawsuit with Insurer

Film Allman, the production company behind “Midnight Rider,” is faulting CSX Corp. for failing to slow a train that plowed through the set of the movie on Feb. 20, 2014, killing camera assistant Sarah Jones and injuring eight others.

Update

[Sloan]

 

 

Trial to decide if railroad shares blame in movie crew death

 

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) - A movie director served jail time for trespassing onto a Georgia railroad bridge and putting his film crew in the path of a freight train that slammed into the group and killed a young camera assistant. Now the dead woman’s parents are going to court saying the railroad should share the blame, even though it denied the filmmakers permission to work on its tracks.

http://www.washingto...lame-in-movie-/

[CNJRoss]

AP, 7/17/17:
 

Jury: Railroad to pay $3.9M for train death of film worker

 

 

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) -- A railroad owner must pay $3.9 million to the family of a movie worker killed on a Georgia railroad trestle in 2014, a jury decided Monday in civil verdict that found the company shared in the blame for the deadly freight train collision even though the film crew was trespassing.

 

The parents of Sarah Jones sued CSX Transportation in Chatham County State Court, saying the railroad shared blame for their daughter's death. The 27-year-old camera assistant died in the crash Feb. 20, 2014, during the first day of shooting "Midnight Rider," an ill-fated movie about Gregg Allman of the Allman Brothers Band.

 

"This trial disclosed a number of exceptionally poor judgments and ignored opportunities by CSX Transportation to prevent this tragedy," Jones' parents, Richard and Elizabeth Jones of Columbia, South Carolina, said in a written statement.

 

CSX plans to appeal the jury's decision, said Rob Doolittle, a spokesman for the Jacksonville, Florida-based company.

 

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[CNJRoss]

AP 1/30/19:
 

Railroad settles civil suit in 2014 death of film worker

 

 

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — A railroad owner settled a wrongful death lawsuit by the family of a film worker killed in 2014 when a train slammed into a crew shooting a movie about singer Gregg Allman, ending the company’s appeal of a $3.9 million jury verdict.

 

Chatham County State Court records show CSX Transportation reached a confidential settlement of the suit with Sarah Jones’ parents on Jan. 24. The company asked the Georgia Court of Appeals to withdraw its appeal of the jury verdict Monday.

 

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