Alec Baldwin's legal problems after shooting Halyna Hutchins on the set of 'Rust'
The death of Halyna Hutchins, shot by accident on the set of the western 'Rust' in 2021, continues to generate controversy. And most of all, there are lawsuits. Many of them.
The director of photography died after Alec Baldwin accidentally fired a loaded gun in her direction during a rehearsal of the film on October 21, 2021. Now, over a year later, all involved in the fatal accident are dealing with enormous legal problems.
And when we say all, we mean to say that even the actor who shot the gun is suing. Alec Baldwin is seeking compensation for the projects he has lost due to his damaged reputation. He wants to clear his name in Hollywood which he says turned its back on him.
After reaching an economic agreement with the family of Halyna Hutchins, to compensate them for having shot her to death, Alec Baldwin is now going on the attack himself.
According to Variety and Indiewire, Baldwin has filed a lawsuit before the Superior Court of Los Angeles. He is targeting some of the staff of the set of 'Rust.'
In the lawsuit, accessed by Variety and Indiewire, the actor provides multiple emails and photographs to implicate four defendants: Hannah Gutiérrez Reed (responsible for weapons), David Halls (assistant director), Sarah Zachry (property owner), and Seth Kenney (gun supplier).
After the claims against the shooter, there are cross-claims from the shooter.
"By these Cross-Claims, Baldwin seeks to clear his name and hold Cross-Defendants accountable for their misconduct," the lawsuit states.
And these are not the only 'cross-defendants' pointed out in the controversy surrounding the 'Rust' accident. Months earlier, it was Matt Hutchins, Halyna's husband, who pointed to the actor as primarily responsible for his wife's death.
Matt Hutchins, the widower of Halyna Hutchins, directly pointed to Alec Baldwin as responsible for the death of his wife. He did so before the cameras of 'Today' (NBC), in an interview with Hoda Kotb.
Photo: NBC
"The idea that the person holding the gun causing it to discharge is not the rep is absurd to me," said Matt Hutchins. He also claimed that "gun safety was not the only problem on that set. There are multiple responsible parties."
Halyna Hutchins' widower also recounted how infuriated he was by Alec Baldwin's television interview after the accident. "I was angry to see him talk about her death so publicly in such a detailed way and then not accept responsibility after having just described killing her."
Photo: NBC
As time passes, demands continue to accumulate against Alec Baldwin and the rest of the people involved. In addition to Matt Hutchins, one of the latest people to file a lawsuit was the doctor responsible for filming safety.
According to TMZ, the doctor responsible for security on the set, Cherlyn Schaefer, sued Hannah Gutiérrez-Reed - the person responsible for the armory - and Dave Halls - the production assistant.
The documentation, obtained by TMZ, states that the doctor also sued the producer, claiming that the alleged negligence that ended the life of Halyna Hutchins caused her serious emotional distress.
The doctor blames Reed and Halls as directly responsible for giving Alec Baldwin the loaded gun. By naming the producer as well, she may have let the actor Baldwin off the hook, but not the producer, who is also Baldwin.
It happened on October 21, 2021. The accidental death of Halyna Hutchins on the set of 'Rust', and the injury of its director, Joel Souza, continue to generate news to this day. All of it concerns lawsuits.
The doctor on set, Cherlyn Schaefer, was the first person to offer medical assistance to Halyna Hutchins right after she was shot.
The doctor's statement, cited by TMZ, mentioned how she desperately fought to save her life. She put pressure on her wounds, applied an oxygen mask, and checked her vital signs.
Cherlyn Schaefer also claimed that she was the one who called the Emergency Department to send a medical helicopter to the filming set.
Although the helicopter arrived quickly and was able to transport the director of photography to the hospital, Halyna Hutchins died in the medical center.
After exposing the facts, Cherlyn Schaefer claimed that she has suffered "tremendous shock, trauma, and severe emotional distress" since that day.
According to TMZ, the doctor blames what happened to Halyna on the poor security measures of the production.
She asserts that before working on 'Rust', she was regularly hired as a doctor on other shoots. However, since the accident, everything has changed for her.
Cherlyn Schaefer states that the impact of what happened is such that experts have recommended that she not return to work, neither as a doctor nor in any other profession.
It still remains to be seen how many of the lawsuits filed between the crew members, other staff, and Alec Baldwin are successful.
It is clear, though, that 'Rust' is a cursed film whose story will remain open-ended in real life for a long time.