A Los Angeles Superior Court judge said on Tuesday that Rust script supervisor Mamie Mitchell can sue Alec Baldwin for negligence and other claims. Last year, Alec Baldwin shot and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and wounded director Joel Souza on the New Mexico set of the independent Western.
The decision comes as the Santa Fe District Attorney continues to examine the police report regarding the fatal shooting at Bonanza Creek Ranch on October 21, 2021. When the gun Baldwin was holding fired, Mitchell, who was standing close to Hutchins and Souza when the lawsuit was filed in November 2021, had filed a motion to remove Baldwin from the case. A motion by Baldwin and his El Dorado Pictures Inc. to strike the script supervisor’s claim for punitive damages was also denied today by Judge Michael E. Whitaker. A Los Angeles Superior Court judge ruled on Friday that only Alec Baldwin is primarily to blame for the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins by a loaded gun on the Rust set last year.
In a tentative but now final ruling, Judge Michael E. Whitaker stated, “While Rust script supervisor Mamie Mitchell alleges that the producers assisted Baldwin by supplying the loaded weapon, Mitchell’s allegations fail to establish that the producers knew Baldwin would aim and fire the loaded weapon, such that they would be jointly liable for his intentional conduct. Mitchell’s multi-claim lawsuit against Rust Movie Productions LLC, Thomasville Pictures LLC, and other producers of the independent Western film was the focus of today’s hearing in downtown Los Angeles. Mitchell claimed that Rust producers, star/producer Baldwin, and other crew members were clearly negligent with safety and other regulations in her lawsuit, which she filed less than a month after the October 21, 2021, shooting that resulted in the death of a cast member on the New Mexico set.
As the forensic reports from Alec Baldwin’s fatal “Rust” movie shooting are completed, the FBI’s investigation moves forward; Still No Timeline for Possible Charges, but Whitaker today removed a significant portion of her lawsuit’s core. Baldwin is also seeking to have Mitchell’s claims against him dismissed, despite his persistent denial that he ever pulled the trigger on the gun that was erroneously loaded with live rounds.
