Family Of Sarah Jones Awarded $11.2M In Wrongful Death Case
A Georgia jury has ruled in favor of Sarah Jones’ family in its civil suit against CSX Transportation in connection with the camera assistant’s 2014 death and awarded them $11.2 million.
The state court jury in Savannah, Ga., decided unanimously to award the family nearly $2 million for pain and suffering and $9.2 million for the economic loss from Sarah Jones’ life, according a spokeswoman for the attorneys for the family. The jury also assigned CSX 35% of the fault.
Jones was killed and six others were injured on the set of “Midnight Rider” outside Doctortown, Ga., on a railroad trestle above the Altamaha River after a train came down the tracks at 58 mph during production. The crew had less than one minute to evacuate the location and the train ran into a metal bed being used by the crew for a scene that was part of a dream sequence in the Gregg Allman biopic. Jones was struck by shrapnel that propelled her toward the moving train.
Jones’ family sued CSX, alleging that the railroad did not follow company policy. Filmmaker Randall Miller settled with the family in late 2014 and spent a year in jail after pleading guilty to felony involuntary manslaughter and criminal trespass.
The production company did not secure a permit from the owner of the tracks, CSX Transportation Corp. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued nearly $75,000 in safety fines. An appeals panel upheld the sanctions after they were challenged by Film Allman, the company that Miller and his wife, Jody Savin, set up to make the independent feature.
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[…] A Georgia jury has ruled in favor of Sarah Jones’ family in its civil suit against CSX Transportation in connection with the camera assistant’s 2014 death and awarded them $11.2 million. The state court jury in Savannah, Ga., decided unanimously to award the family nearly $2 million for pain and suffering and $9.2 million for the economic loss from Sarah Jones’ life, according a spokeswoman for the attorneys for the family. The jury also assigned CSX 35% of the fault. Jones was killed and six others were injured on the set of “Midnight Rider” outside Doctortown, Ga., on a railroad trestle above the Altamaha River after a train came down the tracks at 58 mph during production. The crew had less than one minute to evacuate the location and the train ran into a metal bed being used by the crew for a scene that was part of a dream sequence in the Gregg Allman biopic. Jones was struck by shrapnel that propelled her toward the moving train. Jones’ family sued CSX, alleging that the railroad did not follow company policy. Filmmaker Randall Miller settled with the family in late 2014 and spent a year in jail after pleading guilty to felony involuntary manslaughter and criminal trespass. The production company did not secure a permit from the owner of the tracks, CSX Transportation Corp. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued nearly $75,000 in safety fines. An appeals panel upheld the sanctions after they were challenged by Film Allman, the company that Miller and his wife, Jody Savin, set up to make the independent feature. The post Family Of Sarah Jones Awarded $11.2M In Wrongful Death Case appeared first on CRAZY DAYS AND NIGHTS. Source: Family Of Sarah Jones Awarded .2M In Wrongful Death Case […]
the railroad had to pay $11 million for running their trains on their tracks when they had been given no notice or permission about this movie shoot? how much did the production co. have to pay if they were held 65% responsible?
never mind, didn't read that part.
100% of the liability should be on the film company.
They were the ones that made the decision to film without the owner's approval.
CSX just had better insurance than the production company -- which probably didn't have any insurance.
Sad a woman died just trying to work on a film.
I bet the film company did have insurance but the ins company probably had no clue what they were insuring.
It's pathetic that they even sued the railroad line. The tracks were their property and the film crew was trespassing. CSX repeatedly said in writing that they did NOT have permission to film there since it was a live track, and they gave suggestions for other locations. The film crew was too lazy to travel to the other locations, so they just snuck onto the bridge to film. Always looking for a scapegoat.
Aww....Red arrows? Really? Do your research on what happened.
Agreed. Very sorry for the loss of this young woman, but from everything I've read/heard about the case, I don't see how it's CSX's fault. Unless some other facts came out at trial, her tragic death was the result of reckless decisions made by the film maker. Even though it's not right, I guess It's possible the jury just felt sympathy for the family's loss and figured the company had deep pockets.
I saw somewhere that the company admitted its employees, on two earlier trains, had seen the film crew setting up prior to the fatal incident occurring with the next train. The lawyers for the family argued that CSX neglected to action these red flags and slow the next train while investigating the known issue, which might have prevented her death - this could be the company policy fail referred above. I suppose I can see a point, but I still wouldn't assign as much as 35%, that's way excessive - probably I'd go no more than 20% - unless there is more I haven't read. As you say, it's possible an overinflated portion of blame was directed to them purely because they'd have deeper pockets.
Then you've probably never purchased insurance. Insurance is very specific. You'd need a liability policy at the very least. There is no possible way to buy an insurance policy for a loss that isn't somehow specified. And if the insurance company "didn't know" what they were insuring, that means the applicant lied on the application. Application fraud is almost always a reason for an insurance company to legally avoid payment. It means the company would not have insured the risk had they known its actual nature or extent.
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