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Producers of Gregg Allman biopic hit with another lawsuit

The producers of Midnight Rider, the Gregg Allman biopic whose production was halted after a train collision killed one crew member and injured others, have been hit with another lawsuit, this one from one of the injured survivors of the collision. Allman is also named in the suit, something that has happened before. (Allman briefly sued the production himself.) Makeup artist Antonyia Verna was one of the crew members who was hurt, and she’s suing the producers and Allman for compensatory and punitive damages, citing medical expenses, lost income, and mental anguish, among other things. Verna’s husband, Richard Brewer, joins her in the suit, due to his own anguish over the accident. The two are represented by Keenan Nix. The Hollywood Reporter has more.

Midnight Rider is also currently facing suits from the parents of Sarah Jones, the camera assistant killed in the Feb. 20 collision, as well as a separate suit from hairstylist Joyce Gilliard, who was injured. The claims of Verna’s lawsuit match up well with the Reporter’s previous writing on the accident, alleging that the producers failed to get the proper permits to film on a still-active railway trestle, then failed to mention to the cast and crew that this was the case. Verna also alleges that proper safety precautions were not put in place for the production. (Presumably, those safety precautions would include “telling people a train could come through at any moment.”) It’s not immediately clear why Allman is cited in the lawsuit, but as the Reporter notes, in the past, his representation has questioned why he or his production company should be found negligible for something he wasn’t even present for.


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