FILE – In this image taken video released by the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office, Alec Baldwin gestures while talking with investigators following the fatal shooting of Halyna Hutchins on the "Rust" movie set in Santa Fe, N.M. (Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office via AP, File)
Just one day after he announced a new TLC reality show featuring himself, his wife, and their children, actor Alec Baldwin was sued in Santa Fe, New Mexico, court along with numerous others associated with the film "Rust" over the 2021 prop gun movie set shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
The lawsuit filed Wednesday by Hutchins' Ukraine-based parents, Anatolii Androsovych and Olga Solovey, her sister Svetlana Zemko, and film script supervisor Mamie Mitchell also comes months after a jury convicted armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed of involuntary manslaughter and one month before Baldwin is set to face a trial of his own for the same offense.
According to First Judicial District Court records reviewed by Law&Crime, the negligence case assigned to Judge Kathleen McGarry Ellenwood names Baldwin, Gutierrez-Reed, convicted "Rust" first assistant director David Halls, Rust Movie Productions, LLC, Gutierrez-Reed, and several other individuals and entities associated with the film.
The lawsuit brings assault and battery and intentional infliction of emotional express claims against Baldwin, and negligence claims against all of the named defendants.
The complaint rehashes allegations Mamie Mitchell made in a California lawsuit against Baldwin while represented by attorney Gloria Allred, namely, that Baldwin "chose to play Russian Roulette with a loaded gun without checking it or having the Armorer do so" and that he "intentionally, and without just cause or excuse, cocked and fired the loaded gun," resulting in Hutchins' tragic but avoidable death.
Allred, also involved in the New Mexico lawsuit, told local ABC affiliate KOAT that the named defendants are "responsible for causing villainous death, for causing Ms. Mitchell's injuries and for causing the loss of consortium damages of Halyna's family, whom we represent and whose relationship with Halyna was severed so tragically."
The lawyer maintains that the defendants should be held accountable for creating dangerous movie set conditions that led to Hutchins' death.
In a statement to Law&Crime, Allred said that the lawsuit seeks to "hold lead actor and producer Alec Baldwin, along with other producers and individuals, liable for Halyna's untimely and tragic death." The famed attorney also explained what the issues were with bringing the initial lawsuit in California.
"While we had successfully litigated this case in California against many of the same Defendants being named in our New Mexico lawsuit, there were key Defendants over whom the court ruled there was no personal jurisdiction in California," Allred said. "The fact that the Court could not exercise jurisdiction over key Defendants because they did not have 'minimum contacts' with California, as the forum state, further evidences Rust producers' decision to make this film pursuant to cost-cutting measures that placed the lives of Halyna, Mamie, and other crew members at risk."
"Individuals were hired, including those responsible for the cast and crew's safety, who had little to no experience working in films and, as such, with little to no contacts in Hollywood," she added.
Elsewhere, Allred criticized the Baldwin reality TV show move as "cynical" PR geared towards attempting to "influence the jury pool" into viewing the actor as a "sympathetic family man."
Law&Crime also reached out to a Baldwin attorney for comment.
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