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Paramount was slapped with a lawsuit today on behalf of 24-year-old Gabriela Cedillo, the extra on the Transformers 3 set who was badly injured in an accident during filming last month and now is permanently disfigured and disabled. The lawsuit alleges negligence that resulted in brain damage. She was seriously hurt during one of the action shots on location in Hammond, Indiana, for the upcoming Michael Bay threequel. Bay is not a defendant in the lawsuit, but D.W. Productions and Film Industry Location Management Services and the individual location managers Allen Nolan-Cohn, Nick Rafferty, and Nick Jamison.
In response to the lawsuit, Paramount issued this statement:
We are all terribly sorry that this accident occurred. Our thoughts, prayers and best wishes are with Gabriela, her family and loved ones. The production will continue to provide all the help we can to Gabriela and her family during this difficult time.
Paramount told me back on September 3rd that the injured extra was not involved in the stunt, that her car was not involved in the stunt, and that a “freak accident caused her injury”: that she and her car were more than 500 feet from the stunt, that she was struck by a flying metal object whose welding had come apart and not by a steel towing cable, that the stunt from Tuesday had to be repeated Wednesday because of a “timing issue” and not because it had failed, and that “nobody has done movies more safely than Michael Bay”. The studio, however, could not explain why its version of events was so at odds with the local police and media reports.
But now, Cedillo’s guardian presents their version of what happened. They say the defendants owed “a duty of care to properly train and safeguard ‘extras’ on the filming”. They say the studio required certain extras to utilize their own cars. The lawsuit claims that Cedillo was driving her own 2006 Toyota while stunt vehicles were being towed by trucks in the opposite lanes at high speeds. One of the cables and a welded bracket from a stunt car came loose and hit Cedillo’s hood and windshield, and later her head. After it was struck, Cedillo’s auto crashed into an inner median concrete barrier wall and traveled for about a mile before stopping. The lawsuit challenges all the defendants’ safety precautions (or lack thereof) surrounding the stunt and extra. Read the entire lawsuit here.
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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This was inevitable. They used an untrained, non-union extra in a potentially dangerous automobile shoot, and it darn near killed her. Personally, I hope they take Paramount to the cleaners for being so unprofessional and cavalier about the safety of the young woman.
If extras had been properly unionized they would have fought for protections against these type of unsafe working conditions.
And the union lackeys come out in 1,2,3,…
If she was seriously injured, then no matter what kind of bs she signed when she agreed to be an extra, she should have her medical bills paid, and also receive something to make her comfortable and be ok in life, should she be unable to work. On a movie this size, they have sizable insurance, so paying a million or two out to this girl shouldn’t be any issue and I hope they do so. That being said, I can only hope she’s not suing for some ridiculous amount like $50 million or more. Using an accident to “get rich quick” is pathetic so I hope she’s not doing that and instead just wants what’s RIGHTLY OWED in terms of compensation for her trauma, medical bills, and what will undoubtedly be a lot of missed work. I say good for her for suing, and hopefully all will be resolved appropriately and fairly for all involved.
Your post was in good spirit, but obviously “a million or two” is not enough “to make her comfortable and be ok in life, should she be unable to work.”
The amount she should sue for should be commensurate with the nature of her injuries. That said, the PDF Nikki linked to states that she “has become disfigured and disabled”, “has been damaged in her capacity to earn a living”, and “has incurred and will in the future incur expenses for medical services, all of which are permanent in nature”.
It appears she is only suing for $350,000 ($50,000 each from 7 named defendants). Hopefully the studio has a conscience and will pay her more, if her injuries are truly as permanent as the suit suggests.
No workers compensation?
We should all sue Paramount for Transformers.
Groucho, Your comment just brightened up an otherwise dreary day. ; )
I truly hope Ms. Cedillo makes a full recovery from her injuries. With that said, Paramount will probably settle this out of court and had damn well better pay for her medical expenses at the very LEAST.
Now that this post has been updated with details of the lawsuit…my god. This girl will spend the rest of her life needing serious medical care. Shame on those who were responsible for this. Utterly disgusting.
Correct, we should all sue Paramount and Bay. It would be a “no-class action movie” suit.
crazy considering she was at least 500 feet away from the actual stunt. Some reports even claimed that she was on the other side of the median from the action.
She was on the other side of the median from the stunt car, I was there.
“is permanently disfigured and disabled. The lawsuit alleges negligence that resulted in brain damage”
Oh my goodness. Yes, from the first article, I had no idea her injuries were this bad. That is BAD. I used to do extra work and the extras never drove more than 5mph. How the heck did… “crashed into an inner median concrete barrier wall and traveled for about a mile before stopping.”
Although it does seem like a freak accident, no dangerous “flying” or stationary “metal object” should be in that range of any person on set.
This lawsuit is a relief to Paramount. They’re lucky it didn’t hit Shia.
Something had to be really wrong for her to impact that hard and that long. I suspect that she got hurt by the flying object, and was somehow unable to control her body really, ended up flooring the gas pedal and rammed the car into the median (sort of like a deadman’s grip if you will) and was unable to brake.
so she’s suing paramount but not michael bay.
anyone want to guess who designed the shot, was on the set, determined to proceed and initiated the stunt?
i’m guessing there wasn’t a single paramount person involved, but they have deeper pockets.
this whole thing is very very tragic for young girl and her family –
The 24 yr old girl is paralyzed because of some dumb as cowboy crew , go f ing twist their arms off they knew exactly the intent of harms way it’s a criminal act no less.
Wait. Did you all actually READ this complaint? Ms. Cedillo, her father and lawyers are only asking for $50K per complaint?! I’m sorry, how much did they not expect this franchise to make for the studio when it’s out next year? That’s what, under half a million in claims — piddly.
She lost part of her brain and is paralyzed on her left side but can “mouth and write some words” according to her brother. She is finally able to breath on her own andmake small movements. There may be some or complete blindness in her left eye but it is sewn shut to keep it from drying out so that is yet to be determined.
She wanted to be an extra and most of you would jump at the same chance, she didn’t sign on to have her life ruined.
In the state of the lawsuit they can only state that the damages are more than $50,000 and then the jury decides on the actual amount her injuries are worth.
Thanks for this clarification. Even the gossip sites had got this cleared up. She better get 10-20X the amount that’s “suggested” in the lawsuit.
http://www.popeater.com/2010/10/05/transformers-3-extra-sues-lawsuit-paramount-pictures/
Her lawyer also said she is unable to speak and is paralyzed on her left side. “It looks like she has vision loss in the left eye, which is sewn shut because there’s a paralysis associated with that and they don’t want her eye to dry out.”
This is just horrible. Paramount and Michael Bay, as well as all other productions need to take heed and truly commit to safety on the set, not out of fear of lawsuits, but because it’s the right thing to do. Shame on all of them.
The studio’s wants to save money with the Budget by hiring
non-professional driver’s. And also non-union talent are not
trained by Stunt-Coordinators,they have no IDEAL what can go
wrong on a set. My heart goes out to this girl.
Wake up HOLLYWOOD, you have the best STUNT DRIVERS who are
TRAINED PROFESSIONALS sitting at home waiting for the call.
Or does the STUDIO’S want this to happen again !!! JUSTIN DEROSA
Gosh, it’s like people forgot that “sh!t happens” in real life. It’s not like Paramount just sprang for an untrained extra to save bucks on a stuntperson. Its not like she was doing a real stunt either. From what I heard, she was just driving her car into place on a highway when a cable 500 feet away snapped and randomly hit her car. While my heart goes out to her and her family, you all need to realize that despite your best precautions, random accidents do happen in real life.
For the non-lawyers who’re posting, you’re not understanding what’s going on with this complaint. If you read it a bit more carefully, you’ll notice it’s NOT asking for $50,000 per Defendant, it’s asking for an amount “IN EXCESS of $50,000.”
Why is that important?
The venue is Illinois State court. That means we’re following Illinois law. Under Illinois law, Supreme Court Rule 222 imposes a broad set of discovery requirements on the parties and speeds up and streamlines the discovery process. Arguably, that makes it harder for a plaintiff’s attorney to develop a case because now you’re working under an expedited timeline.
But S.Ct Rule 222 only applies if the amount being asked for is LESS THAN $50k.
So, by inserting the “an amount in excess of $50k” language into the complaint, the extra’s attorneys are making sure the rule doesn’t apply to this case. They will have plenty of time to develop this case, conduct discovery and they can always amend the complaint or provide a statement of damages for a larger amount as things progress at the court’s usual glacial speed.
So now you know.
$350K is not enough for the severe damages this poor woman has suffered. More like $3.5 million.
Sad, Sad, Sad… The jury is going to award a massive amount of money for her not being greedy and some previous crew is now coming forward talking about safety hazards that should have been stopped from the first movie.
You guys really think the family will settle for $350K? It’s what the jury will hear and then THEY will decide the amount. Just watch.
With the extraordinary improvements in digital technology, why is there the need for any dangerous stunts of this nature?
This is Bay’s speciality: having as much in-camera wild stunts and fireworks – with and without the US Military – as possible (note the road rages: Bad Boys 2, The Island). But it’s becoming clearer that a major oversight was at hand. Stuntspeople (and precision drivers) should have been the closest players — on both sides of the median. No way this accident would’ve occurred to an extra (union or not) on the Coasts. Crazy, shameful, sad.
That still doesn’t answer the question. The ‘transformer’ characters are extremely complex and none of them are done in- camera. Cameron did the majority of AVATAR digitally. With the fast paced cutting of Bay’s films, it appears that anything dangerous could be done digitally and still be convincing. It would also seem that the effect would be perfect and the expense of taking qualified stunt people to distant locations could be avoided. It could be done in a controlled place in a production center at far less expense. Although the accident appears to be random, the whole scenario seems unnecessary on a film with a budget of that magnitude. The famous ‘jump into the water’ scene in BUTCH CASSIDY was done on a backlot into a tank with a glass painting. The description of this situation sounds like a thrown together and completely unnecessary mess. Some of the posts about the potential union problems on HOBBIT seem familiar here. Professional stunt people and precision drivers in this industry are famous for their concerns for safety and professionalism. The further you get from Hollywood, the more dangerous things become. I think they use live ammo in Russia.
This is truly sad that this accident has happened. Having known a person with a TMI ( that’s Traumatic Brain Injury ) it is impossible to determine the extent of the damage. Given that her left side is paralyzed, breathing difficulty, eye issues, the amount of rehabilitation alone for her to have any normal semblance of life is probably in the high 100K range. That’s just rehab.
Her disfigurement and the loss of income that she will encounter, the distinct possibility that her life will be forever changed and she will be handicapped because of this incredible lack of judgment on having an untrained individual present during a high danger stunt should range in the millions regardless of the labor laws, signed documents of non responsibility or any other hold harmless agreement.
She was in the wrong place at the wrong time doing the wrong thing because somebody asked her to.
I was surprised the car was driven by an extra and not a stuntperson.
Where is “Karen” and all of her apologist friends who posted so much defense of the filmmakers a month ago when Gabriella was first injured? Now that they realize she has her left eye sewn shut, she is fed through a tube, and she is paralized on her left side, they have all fallen mute.
There is never ever ever an excuse to ever put an extra in harm’s way.500 feet away, 1000 feet away, 5000 feet away. It doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is that someone was hurt. Calling it a fluke and insisting that the studio followed all available safety precautions doesn’t explain why a young lady is laying in the hospital today with brain damage.
The person responsible for safety on the set is the 1st Asst. Director. That is the person that all other department heads on set report to. Their supervisor is the Producer who reports to the studio. All three of those entities, as well as the stunt coordinator, need to be held accountable.
Michael Bay was no doubt aware that extras were driving their own cars in close proximity to that stunt, and should have insisted that the stunt be performed safely or not at all. But he was forced with a decision: Getting the shot on time and on budget with a little risk thrown into the mix, or doing it the right way and having to cut an effect for budgetary somewhere else.
Everyone involved is talking a good story about how focused they were on safety, but none of them almost died as a result of their decisions.
The Locations department has NOTHING to do with stunts or the safety of the extras on the set. The suit names the wrong people entirely. Which makes me wonder what kind of lawyers this woman’s family hired. Had they done their research, they would know the stunt team was who should be named… not the locations department because the accident didn’t occur as a result of what location they were using.