Overview
- Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Maurice Leiter ruled Friday that Serge Svetnoy’s civil case can proceed and reset a jury trial for Oct. 12.
- He allowed negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and punitive damages claims to move forward and dismissed an assault count for lack of intent, while rejecting a bid to send the matter to workers’ compensation.
- Leiter wrote that a jury could find Baldwin recklessly caused distress by pointing the gun with his finger on the trigger and found evidence Baldwin exercised enough control as a producer to create a triable safety duty.
- Svetnoy, the film’s gaffer, says the bullet narrowly missed him, describes feeling the blast at close range, and alleges cost-cutting and lax protocols created a foreseeable risk to the crew.
- The 2021 rehearsal in Santa Fe killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and wounded director Joel Souza, and Baldwin’s manslaughter case was tossed in July 2024 over withheld evidence while armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was convicted and served more than a year in prison.