Judging Freedom - Alec Baldwin sued by 'Rust' cinematographer's family

Episode Date: February 16, 2022

The family of Halyna Hutchins has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Alec Baldwin and other and producers of the movie 'Rust.' Halyna Hutchins was accidentily shot dead on set in October 2021.#AlecBaldwin #RustSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hello there everyone, Judge Andrew Napolitano here with Judging Freedom. Today is Wednesday, February 16. It's about 2.35 in the afternoon on the east coast of the United States, and we have learned this morning that Alec Baldwin at long last is a defendant in a wrongful death case for that awful what he says was an accident on the set of the movie Rust, in which he says he was handed a weapon that he thought was filled with blanks and he fired it, and of course it was filled with at least one live round. And it killed one person and seriously wounded another. The person who was killed was a dear friend of his and a producer on the show.

The person who was injured was a dear friend of his and the director of the movie. The husband and son of the producer are suing for wrongful death. Well, what's wrongful death? I mean, it is what it says it is. It's when the victim's survivors allege that somebody wrongfully caused the death of the victim. There's no dispute that Alec Baldwin caused her death. The dispute is who else is liable? So the lawyers for the estate of the killed woman wisely sued everybody that had anything to do with the movie. They alleged that the producers were cheap and cut costs and didn't hire the right people and didn't pay them the right money, and they weren't smart enough to know what was going on. And of course, they're blaming Baldwin

himself. So it'll be interesting to see whether Alec Baldwin's contract with the producers in that contract, they indemnify him. If they do, then he has no personal liability. Then they're on the hook. It'll be also interesting to see if they have insurance for this kind of behavior. My guess is it's a standard form contract, so Baldwin is indemnified, meaning if there's a judgment against him personally, it will be paid by the producers. My guess is that the producers have more than adequate insurance, meaning that as a practical matter, the lawyers for the insurance company will defend in this suit, and they will probably settle the case.

If they don't settle the case, it'll go to a jury. Then the jury will be told by the judge what the measure of damages is. Ladies and gentlemen, first you will decide whose fault it is. It doesn't have to be 100% one person's fault and zero another. You could break it up. The total is 100. It could be X% Alec Baldwin's fault and Y% the production company's fault and Z% the human being that handed Baldwin the weapon. It could be that person's fault. Then after you decide whose fault it is, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, and I'm of course paraphrasing what the judge will tell the jury, you must decide the measure of damages. And the

measure of damages is what this person would likely have earned had they lived and worked a normal work life. So she was about 35 years old. Would she have worked until she was 70? And what would her income likely have been? There's no money for emotional loss in wrongful death cases because there's no way to measure that. The only money in these cases is compensation for the services the person would have performed or the income the person would have owned. Listen, this is page one of probably a long and bitter litigation. Wise heads will settle it, but wise heads aren't always present in the courtroom. I can tell you that from my experience. Judge Napolitano, judging freedom.