The lawsuit claims unsafe set practices on the set of Fox’s TV series Sleepy Hollow. According to the AJC, a lawsuit was filed against 20th Century Fox and several other parties last week, two years after a crew member was injured on the Atlanta set of the Fox TV series. The plaintiff, Deborah Cottrill, accuses the defendants of “failing to exercise ordinary care … to protect the filming cast and crew and failing to take reasonable safety precautions.
Cottrill claims she was working on set on July 27, 2015, when an episode titled “Whispers in The Dark” was filming in Conyers, Georgia.
“Despite the fact that cast and crew members were in the area, and many crew members were moving equipment, none of the ‘Sleepy Hollow’ defendants, or their agents, representatives, 10 contractors, or employees, properly closed the portion of the set where Ms. Cottrill and other members of the crew were working,” the suit says. “Despite the fact that the cast and crew members were moving about, the ‘Sleepy Hollow’ defendants, or their agents, representatives, contractors, or employees, failed to take reasonable, minimum safety precautions.”
The lawsuit claims, Cottrill was hit by a truck “on a road that should have been closed and appeared to be closed.” According to the AJC, Cottrill’s leg and ankle were broken and her shoulder was injured. She has had multiple surgeries and procedures since the incident.
AJC reports Cottrill is seeking a jury trial, attorney’s fees, costs and expenses, damages “including but not limited to past and future medical expenses, pain and suffering, lost wages, lost earning capacity, and all other elements of damages allowed under the laws of the State of Georgia,” in addition to punitive damages that “should be imposed in an amount sufficient to penalize the defendants and to deter such willful, wanton, and reckless conduct in the future,” the suit says.
It is important to point out that Cottrill is represented by Harris Lowry Manton LLP, who represented the parents of Sarah Jones, a Georgia camera assistant who died on the set of Midnight Rider. On Monday, a jury awarded Sarah Jones’ parents $11.2 million in their wrongful death lawsuit.