Alec Baldwin Sued by Halyna Hutchins' Family for Negligence in Fatal 'Rust' Shooting
Halyna Hutchins's family in Ukraine -- comprised of her father, mother and sister -- filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court against Alec Baldwin and other producers of Rust over Halyna's death.
The family is being represented by Gloria Allred and John Carpenter, who on Thursday held a news conference at Allred's Los Angeles headquarters to announce that the family filed the lawsuit. According to legal documents, obtained by ET, the family is alleging battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence and loss of consortium for the three plaintiffs, all of whom, Allred said, seek to recover compensation for damages to certain relationships that are mutually dependent.
The lawsuit names Baldwin; Rust Movie Productions, LLC.; Baldwin's production company, El Dorado Productions, LLC; the film's armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed; and a slew of others. ET has reached out to Baldwin's reps for comment.
In a statement to ET, the attorney for Halyna's husband, Matt Hutchins, said he was not aware Halyna's family was going to file this lawsuit.
"Matt Hutchins is pursuing claims on his behalf and on behalf of [his son] Andros," said Brian J. Panish, founding partner of Panish | Shea | Boyle | Ravipudi LLP. "We do not believe any other family members have a claim under New Mexico or California law. Neither Mr. Hutchins nor his attorneys were made aware of the family's intention to file a lawsuit before today."
At the news conference, photos were shown of the family -- father Antolli, mother Olga and sister Svetlana -- with Halyna. There was also a short video of Svetlana and Olga speaking in Russian, in which Svetlana said losing Halyna is "one of the biggest losses of my life." Olga didn't speak and she choked back tears in the emotional video.
Svetlana also discussed her parents and "how their health has sharply declined" following Halyna’s death.
"I believe to let this go and to leave this unpunished isn’t allowable," Svetlana said.
Allred said on top of losing Halyna, the family is living in Ukraine amid the ongoing Russian invasion. Allred said the family lives near the Ukraine capital of Kyiv, where Olga is a nurse at a hospital treating victims of the war. Svetlana recently became a new mother and her husband had been fighting on the frontlines of the ongoing war, Allred added.
Allred also answered how this lawsuit differs from the one Baldwin recently settled with Halyna's estate.
"The settlement was for Matthew and his child," Allred explained. "And we are now representing others in the family -- mom, dad, and sister -- and there has been no settlement for them. Matter of fact, there has been no outreach to them by Mr. Baldwin to even say he was sorry. We want accountability and justice for them. It’s as simple as that."
The new lawsuit comes five months after Baldwin and Halyna's estate reached a settlement in a wrongful death lawsuit against the actor. As part of the settlement, Rust would resume filming, with Halyna's husband, Matthew Hutchins, joining the production as an executive producer.
Baldwin, who has repeatedly insisted he did not pull the trigger that killed Halyna and injured director Joel Souza, has now been charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter in the fatal shooting of Halyna. He will also be "charged in the alternative" with the two counts of manslaughter, meaning that a jury would decide not simply if he was guilty, but under which definition of involuntary manslaughter he was guilty.
New Mexico First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies told CNN just because the shooting was accidental, it doesn't mean a crime wasn't committed.
"Just because it's an accident doesn't mean that it's not criminal. Our involuntary manslaughter statute covers unintentional killings, unintentional homicides," she explained to CNN. "The rest of our homicide statutes cover intentional. But unintentional means they didn't mean to do it. They didn't have the intent to kill, but it happened anyway, and it happened because of more than mere negligence, because they didn't exercise due caution or circumspection. And that's what happened here."
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