The family of the Sarah Jones, a camera assistant killed while working on the Gregg Allman biopic "Midnight Rider," was awarded $11.2 million Monday in a civil suit over her death. Jurors determined that railways company CSX Transportation bore the largest part of the responsibility.
Jones, 27, was killed in 2014 during the filming of a dream sequence in which William Hurt, playing Allman, occupied a hospital bed on a live railroad trestle above the Altamaha River near Doctortown, Georgia. Director Randall Miller served a year in jail after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter and criminal trespassing.
The case led to the Safety for Sarah movement, which called for greater safety precautions during productions.
The jury unanimously awarded Jones' family $1,992,083 for pain and suffering, and $9,229,416 for the full value of Sarah's life. They assigned 35 percent of the fault to CSX, 28 percent to Miller and 18 percent to Rayonier Performance Fibers, which owns the property around the tracks. The rest was divided among members of production company Film Allman.
"CSX is deeply sympathetic to the terrible loss suffered by the family of Ms. Sarah Jones, but respectfully disagrees with the conclusions reached by the jury today and will appeal," said Rob Doolittle, a spokesman at the Jacksonville, Florida-based company.
Sarah's parents, Elizabeth and Richard Jones, said in a statement that she was "a bright beacon of hope that was snuffed out too soon."
"We felt that this trial was necessary in order to learn what happened that tragic day of Feb. 20, 2014. It is only with the discovery of what could have been done differently that we might avoid another similar tragic loss of life.
They added: "We have learned much from this trial. No doubt that the decisions made by those in charge of Film Allman, LLC were foolish, criminal and, in our view, selfish. That said, this trial disclosed a number of exceptionally poor judgements and ignored opportunities by CSX Transportation to prevent this tragedy. Frankly, I believe that the evidence in this trial indicated that CSX has systemic issues that need corrected."
"We miss you Sarah," their statement concluded.
Attorneys for Jones' family argued that CSX should have taken precautions to avoid the crash, and said two CSX trains that passed the movie crew before the collision should have reported the group.
Hurt appeared in Savannah and sat outside the courtroom during the trial's first day last week. But the actor was never called to testify.
Hey Leah! There hasn't been a settlement. The jury awarded the family $11.2 million and said the railroad owes $3.9 million, but the company says it's going to appeal.
The jury unanimously awarded Jones' family $1,992,083 for pain and suffering, and $9,229,416 for the full value of Sarah's life.
Anyone know how in the world those numbers are determined?
The jury unanimously awarded Jones' family $1,992,083 for pain and suffering, and $9,229,416 for the full value of Sarah's life.
Anyone know how in the world those numbers are determined?
I'm just reading some links I found through Google, but some of it comes from the income they estimate she would have made over the course of her life: she was a young woman who could have lived another 50 to 60 years, the job she had paid X amount and she could have earned Y amount if she had had a typical career path for someone in that profession. Her parents might have received some of that as well. Then there's the cost of funeral bills, any time her parents missed and income they lost because of the terrible loss they suffered and their court costs. Those numbers are multiplied depending on how much blame the jury thinks the defendants deserve. There's more to it, I'm sure, but those are some of the things that are considered.
Just a sad situation with no good coming from any of it.
When it comes to the past, some things are best left alone.
When i saw the thread title, i was hoping that we were being compensated for the overplay of "Hey Soul Sister."
When i saw the thread title, i was hoping that we were being compensated for the overplay of "Hey Soul Sister."
lol! My son digs Train big time. My friend has seen them 7 times. Whatever gets your mojo!
They were trespassing on private property.
Don't have a heart attack, but I agree with you.
The fault lays with who decided to film in that location, who decided to do it without co-ordination with the train company (trespass), and who told them to be on the bridge without safety supervision.
They were trespassing on private property.
Don't have a heart attack, but I agree with you.
The fault lays with who decided to film in that location, who decided to do it without co-ordination with the train company (trespass), and who told them to be on the bridge without safety supervision.
If you total it up, those people and companies were assigned about half the blame. The rest was the railroad, supposedly because the train conductors saw the crew around the tracks and didn't tell anybody, and the company that owns the property, because they told the film crew there were only going to be two trains and not three.
They were trespassing on private property.
Don't have a heart attack, but I agree with you.
The fault lays with who decided to film in that location, who decided to do it without co-ordination with the train company (trespass), and who told them to be on the bridge without safety supervision.If you total it up, those people and companies were assigned about half the blame. The rest was the railroad, supposedly because the train conductors saw the crew around the tracks and didn't tell anybody, and the company that owns the property, because they told the film crew there were only going to be two trains and not three.
They were trespassing. CRX denied permission to shoot on the trestle TWICE. They were there illegally. The director could have been charged with murder since any death during an illegal act is technically murder (Ga law).
Doesn't matter about the number of trains (and where did you get that piece of information), who saw them adjacent to the property, and if the train pt on brakes too late.
The producer/director decided to film on the trestle without permission, had the film crew on CRX property without permission, did not have safety people in place, and just basically (in my opinion) said screw it, I'll do what I want.
He was the person at fault, not the railroad.
If you total it up, those people and companies were assigned about half the blame. The rest was the railroad, supposedly because the train conductors saw the crew around the tracks and didn't tell anybody, and the company that owns the property, because they told the film crew there were only going to be two trains and not three.
They were trespassing. CRX denied permission to shoot on the trestle TWICE.
I know. Everybody knows this and nobody is denying it. Nobody is saying the railroad alone is to blame. That would be crazy.
The director could have been charged with murder since any death during an illegal act is technically murder (Ga law).
But he wasn't. Most people wouldn't call that murder and prosecutors obviously didn't feel they could convince a jury it was murder. So he plead guilty to involuntary manslaughter, served his time, and won't be making any movies any time soon. Nobody is denying that he deserves blame for his incredibly stupid and careless actions and that he set all of this into motion.
Doesn't matter about the number of trains (and where did you get that piece of information), who saw them adjacent to the property, and if the train pt on brakes too late.
You can insist it doesn't matter, but the jury felt it mattered, and that's why they made the returned the verdict they did. I am not saying the jury's decision is perfect. Who knows if it will survive the appeals process. Maybe they applied the law wrong and it will go away. Maybe the fact that CSX and Rayonier have more money than these other parties played a role. If it's true that trains saw the crew - I can't tell from what's been described if they saw anything unusual - or that the director and producers made their terrible decision based on wrong information from the property owner, I can understand why a jury felt they shared the blame.
The other trains are mentioned in the article at the beginning of this thread and other reporting on the case. CSX doesn't deny it's true. (Their argument is that they didn't see anything unusual.)
The producer/director decided to film on the trestle without permission, had the film crew on CRX property without permission, did not have safety people in place, and just basically (in my opinion) said screw it, I'll do what I want.
He was the person at fault, not the railroad.
He bears more responsibility than anyone else as far as I'm concerned. (I don't think he made this decision totally by himself; a few producers or other executives agreed to shoot that way.) But that's basically right. Still, I can understand the argument that other people are also somewhat responsible.
[Edited on 7/20/2017 by Marley]
If you total it up, those people and companies were assigned about half the blame. The rest was the railroad, supposedly because the train conductors saw the crew around the tracks and didn't tell anybody, and the company that owns the property, because they told the film crew there were only going to be two trains and not three.
They were trespassing. CRX denied permission to shoot on the trestle TWICE.
I know. Everybody knows this and nobody is denying it. Nobody is saying the railroad alone is to blame. That would be crazy.
{The railroad shouldn't be blamed for anything. You actually gave the reason later in your post.}
The director could have been charged with murder since any death during an illegal act is technically murder (Ga law).
But he wasn't. Most people wouldn't call that murder and prosecutors obviously didn't feel they could convince a jury it was murder. So he plead guilty to involuntary manslaughter, served his time, and won't be making any movies any time soon. Nobody is denying that he deserves blame for his incredibly stupid and careless actions and that he set all of this into motion.
{it was pled down to the lesser charge.}
Doesn't matter about the number of trains (and where did you get that piece of information), who saw them adjacent to the property, and if the train pt on brakes too late.
You can insist it doesn't matter, but the jury felt it mattered, and that's why they made the returned the verdict they did. I am not saying the jury's decision is perfect. Who knows if it will survive the appeals process. Maybe they applied the law wrong and it will go away.
Maybe the fact that CSX and Rayonier have more money than these other parties played a role.
{Now you realize why they were named in the lawsuit.}
If it's true that trains saw the crew - I can't tell from what's been described if they saw anything unusual - or that the director and producers made their terrible decision based on wrong information from the property owner, I can understand why a jury felt they shared the blame.
The other trains are mentioned in the article at the beginning of this thread and other reporting on the case. CSX doesn't deny it's true. (Their argument is that they didn't see anything unusual.)
{They also state that they were not on the CRX property.}
The producer/director decided to film on the trestle without permission, had the film crew on CRX property without permission, did not have safety people in place, and just basically (in my opinion) said screw it, I'll do what I want.
He was the person at fault, not the railroad.
He bears more responsibility than anyone else as far as I'm concerned. (I don't think he made this decision totally by himself; a few producers or other executives agreed to shoot that way.) But that's basically right. Still, I can understand the argument that other people are also somewhat responsible.
{I've been on wrongful death juries before and sometimes you get what I call a "weeping willow" who wants somebody to pay for the death and they don't care who pays (generally they go after who has the most money) that's on the list of defendants.
An example: About 15 years ago a woman tried to sue a big box store because a drink machine fell onto her son, killing him. Didn't matter that he was trying to pull the machine over to break into the coin box (an illegal act). Crowd of witnesses, video of him doing it, the machine didn't belong to the store-just on the sidewalk, and the statements of his friends who kept trying to tell him to stop.
According to her, the store was at fault because they did not foresee this as happening and didn't properly secure the machine to the building so it could not fall (be pulled) over and kill her son.
Well, the "weeping willow" on that jury was determined that somebody had to pay and proposed that the judgement be increased because the woman was so distraught, and she didn't want to hear about anything else. She was very adamant and emotional to the point of throwing (what we call down here) hissy fits.
She didn't care about anything except making SOMEBODY pay because the boy died.
Didn't matter he was the one who pulled the machine over onto himself. Didn't matter that he was doing this to break into the machine. She just wanted SOMEBODY to pay because the boy died.
[Edited on 7/20/2017 by Marley]
I'm going to ask the question again: Where did you get the information that CRX told them there would only be two trains going over the trestle?
I could wrong, and without reading transcripts, am not sure it applies to this case, but............ there appears to be a growing legal concept, that one can be found liable for failing to prevent the harmful, illegal, or dangerous actions of others, even when these actions occur on your personal property, and unknowing to you at the time. and also that the parties were trespassing to commit these actions. In simpler talk, others stupidity can be your fault!
The railroad shouldn't be blamed for anything.[/quote[]
OK. The jury disagreed, and I don't think that's completely crazy.{Now you realize why they were named in the lawsuit.}
I understood all along.
{I've been on wrongful death juries before and sometimes you get what I call a "weeping willow" who wants somebody to pay for the death and they don't care who pays (generally they go after who has the most money) that's on the list of defendants.
I'm sure there are frivolous wrongful death lawsuits, but I don't think this is one. This woman died because of dumb things some other people did, so I'm really not sure the family should care where the money comes from. They made their case, the plaintiffs made theirs, and this is how the jury found. Maybe it'll get overturned and maybe not or there will just be settlements.
[I'm going to ask the question again: Where did you get the information that CRX told them there would only be two trains going over the trestle?
Your wording was unclear. It's in other articles about the case. To be clear, I was trying to summarize what the family said happened and not asserting that I know it's true, although, again, the jury seemed to find it credible. But Miller, the director, testified that Rayonier told them there would be only two trains.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/midnight-rider-gregg-allman-agrees-703572
(CSX is the railroad. This part of the issue is about Rayonier, which owned the land around the tracks.) A crew member also testified that they were told they had Rayonier's permission to be on their property, and maybe the jury felt that was part of why this happened.
http://deadline.com/2017/07/midnight-rider-sarah-jones-csx-trial-location-manager-testimony-charley-baxter-1202129595/
Rayonier is a forest products company, what the hell would they know about daily train operations? 😛 they just lease the land to CSX./
It's not completely insane to think they would know the schedule for trains that run over their own property, but obviously they did not know. That being said, someone with the company apparently thought they knew the train schedule and gave the producers bad information about it. (Supposedly there were emails documenting this. I haven't seen them, obviously.)
the Track and trestle are CSX property, the director and crew had NO right to be there.
Yes, we all agree about this.
Many people are killed every year walking along or on the tracks [they have no right to be there] or trying to beat the train at a crossing.
I know. I'm married to a photographer and apparently photographers and 'train track selfie' takers get killed that way fairly often. The trains are faster and quieter than people realize, so when a friend put a selfie like that on Facebook recently she warned her never to do that again.
Marley, there is NO train schedule for freight trains [it changes constantly] only the dispatcher and corridor manager know.
So you agree that, if Rayonier told the producers there would only be two trains, that was a mistake?
Marley, there is NO train schedule for freight trains [it changes constantly] only the dispatcher and corridor manager know.
So you agree that, if Rayonier told the producers there would only be two trains, that was a mistake?
It never happened, rayonier has NOTHING to do with train service.
I understand they are not Rayonier's trains and it doesn't control the trains. The question is whether anybody from Rayonier said anything about how many trains might run - information that turned out to be wrong but influenced the decisions the producers made.
I don't know why people keep saying those conversations can't have happened. Two different groups of lawyers said they did, and the jury apparently found that convincing.
From the LA Times:
Lawyers for Miller had said that the company had received permission to film on the trestle from Rayonier Inc., a paper company that owns the land. Rayonier had told the film company that only two trains would be using the track that day, the lawyers said. After two trains, the crew set up for filming.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-midnight-rider20150309-story.html
Lawyers for the Jones family said the same:
The suit also names Rayonier for its role in informing the crew that only two trains would go by that bridge in a day. “Rayonier breached its duty to exercise reasonable care, as it incorrectly informed and failed to warn the ‘Midnight Rider’ case and crew regarding this danger,” the suit states.
“The bottom line is that information (that there are only two trains a day on that train line) is insanely inaccurate,” Harris said. “I’ve been down there to that railroad track, and it’s not uncommon to get two trains in an hour. Anybody from that area who knows anything about that track knows it’s an incredibly active track, and you sometimes will get 15 trains a day.”
Can someone remind me how the estate of the now deceased executive producer got off the hook for monetary compensation here?
A few facts:
CSX denied access to the crew IN WRITING.
Rayonier granted access to the crew PROVIDED that they STAY OFF THE TRACKS.
The director - who served a little over a year in prison for his part had a record and reputation of disregarding rules, regulations, laws etc. when it came to getting permission, observing general safety etc for several of his past films. I suppose his own accounts have been somewhat diminished. If not, it seems to me that he should've been made to pay.
I feel for Sarah's family over their loss. This is a real loss with real pain that no amount of money can cure. On one hand I am happy for them. On the other - her family's lawyers went after the deepest pockets and convinced a jury to buy into their claims. My heart rarely bleed for gigantic companies like CSX but I feel that they were unfairly blamed for what happened in Doctor Town.
