Gregg Allman's lawyer has slammed what he calls a "shotgun approach" to legal action after the musician was named in a lawsuit concerning the death of a crew member working on his biopic.
Production of Midnight Rider was suspended in March after Sarah Jones, 27, died while shooting the first scene. Lead actor William Hurt quit soon afterwards, saying he’d been ignored when he tried to raise safety concerns as filming took place on a railway track.
Allman himself launched a lawsuit against the makers in a bid to force them not to restart production, although the suit was later dropped.
Jones’ parents have named 10 parties in their paperwork, including Allman. But his representative David Long Daniels says in a statement: “While the lawsuit was expected, the inclusion of my client is unfortunate, unwarranted and without merit.
“Mr Allman simply provided an option to acquire motion picture rights to his life story and his autobiography. My client was not at the location when this tragedy occurred.”
He says Allman’s only involvement was that he “provided creative input on the script and consulted about casting and music.”
Daniels adds that he’s certain the legal process will lead to charges against Allman being dismissed but concludes: “It is unfortunate that plaintiffs’ counsel has taken a shotgun approach to this very tragic event.”
Jones’ parents last week told the Hollywood Reporter why they’d decided to sue. Father Richard said: “We don’t want our daughter’s death to be in vain,” Sarah’s father, Richard, says. “We don’t want this to happen again – that’s the bottom line. What needs to happen to make sure that’s the case?”
