KFIX Rock News: Gregg Allman Seeks Protection From Liability In Fatal Accident Druring Filming Of Biopic

Gregg Allman has made a legal maneuver in an attempt to protect himself from liability in lawsuits brought against him in the wake of the fatal accident that took place this past February during the filming of a scene for Midnight Rider, the film based on his life story.

Variety reports that the Allman Brothers Band frontman filed a claim against the movie’s producers Tuesday in Georgia’s Chatham County Court asserting that the film’s producers had agreed to indemnify him from liability stemming from the incident, in which a 27-year-old camera assistant named Sarah Jones was killed and eight crew members were injured.

Allman also is asking to have his name removed from a civil suit initiated by Jones’ parents, maintaining that he shouldn’t be held responsible for the actions of the filmmakers.

Allman and his manager, Michael Lehman, served as executive producers on the biopic, but they assert that they weren’t involved in specific production decisions like the one that allegedly led to the accident.

The singer and his manager say they signed an agreement with Unclaimed Freight Productions, the company owned by the husband-and-wife director/producer team of Randall Miller and Jody Savin, that grants them protection from liability.

In their claim, Allman and Lehman maintain that they had “no authority or control over the selection of locations for filming.” In addition, they characterize the incident that caused Jones death as “a pre-production excursion in which others sought to steal a scene shot on a live train trestle.”

As previously reported, the accident occurred on the first day of filming, when a train unexpectedly crossed a trestle bridge near Jesup, Georgia, where the filmmakers were attempting to shoot a dream sequence that involved placing a metal hospital bed on the tracks.

In addition to civil lawsuits, Miller, Savin, executive producer Jay Sedrish and assistant director Hillary Schwartz all face involuntary manslaughter and criminal trespass charges in connection to the incident.

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