Gregg Allman's got a long vacation from work in the near future and now he has another reason to relax: He's been dropped from a lawsuit regarding the death of a camera assistant on the set of Midnight Rider, now cancelled biopic about the life of the Allman Brothers frontman (from Billboard).
A judge in Savannah, GA—a location near where the accident that killed Sarah Jones-—ruled to postpone motions for the hearing earlier this week, and the attorney for the Jones family announced October 30 that Allman, executive producer Michael Lehman and distributor Open Road Films would be dropped from the lawsuit.
"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," attorney Jeff Davis said in a statement.
Jones was on a train trestle as part of a shoot when a train expectedly came down the tracks, striking her at nearly 58 miles an hour. Actor William Hurt was barely able to escape, and a hospital bed he was on as part of the shoot was smashed (suggesting the producers hadn't done due diligence in ensuring the tracks were safe to use).
Many defendants are still listed in the suit however, including several producers and director Randall Miller. Allman himself has already sued the production following the death, as he encouraged filming to stop after the tragedy and revoked his life rights as a result. His advice was eventually taken to heart and the project was shut down.
Although companies such as CSX, who was operating the train, are included in the lawsuit, the most likely rulings will come against Miller, assistant director Hillary Schwartz, and producers Jody Savin and Jay Sedrish—all of whom have been formally charged with involuntary manslaughter and criminal trespass.
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