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Gregg Allman and others dropped from civil case over biopic death

By | Published on Friday 31 October 2014

Greg Allman

The family of Sarah Jones, the camera assistant who died during the filming of Gregg Allman biopic ‘Midnight Rider’ earlier this year, have taken Allman, producer Michael Lehman and distributor Open Road Films off their civil lawsuit against the film’s makers.

As previously reported, Jones was killed while she and colleagues were setting up for the filming of a dream sequence on railway tracks when a train unexpectedly appeared, striking a bed placed on the rails. A police investigation found that the producers did not have proper permission to film on the railway.

Following the incident, Allman launched legal action attempting to withdraw the film rights to his autobiography, ‘My Cross To Bear’, having previously appealed unsuccessfully to director Randall Miller to abandon the project entirely. Allman later dropped his lawsuit after reaching a settlement with production company, Unclaimed Freight Productions.

Miller, producer Jody Savin and executive producer Jay Sedrish, were later charged with involuntary manslaughter and criminal trespass, while Jones’ family launched their own civil action.

Following a hearing earlier this week, Allman, Lehman and Open Road Films were taken off the list of defendants on that civil action. Miller, Savin and Sedrish all remain named on the civil suit, along with first assistant director Hillary Schwartz, location manager Charles T Baxter and director of photography Mike Ozier; Meddin Studios, which provided equipment and personnel to the ill-fated shoot; the aforementioned Unclaimed Freight, which was set up by Miller and his wife to make the film; the company that owns the land on which the tracks lay Rayonier Performance Fibers; and the operator of the tracks, CSX Transportation.

Representing the Jones family, lawyer Jeff Harris said in a statement published by The Hollywood Reporter: “After reviewing the many thousands of pages of documents, and other information we have obtained through the legal discovery process, it is clear that Mr Allman and Mr Lehman had no involvement in any of the decisions that resulted in Sarah’s death. Our investigation has also shown that, in this case, Open Road Films was not directly involved in the poor decisions that led to this horrific event and the tragic loss of Sarah’s life. As a result, we are dismissing all claims against the three parties”.

Jones’ father Richard added: “The legal process is working and questions are being answered. During a very difficult and trying time for our family, Gregg Allman and Michael Lehman demonstrated their genuine sorrow over the loss of our daughter and their willingness to work with us in the future to ensure safe film sets for all. For that, we are grateful”.

The next hearing in the civil case is due to take place on 13 Nov. The criminal proceedings are yet to come to court.



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