Family Sues Alec Baldwin 'Rust' Producers for Wrongful Death

The lawsuit filed on behalf of Halyna's husband, Matthew Hutchins, and son, Andros, in Sante Fe, New Mexico alleges that his wife needlessly died as a result of negligence on the part of Baldwin, the movie's producers and others that were involved in the filming. The suit is seeking unspecified and punitive damages, claiming that Hutchins' death was the result of guns that weren't properly checked.

“Halyna Hutchins deserved to live, and the defendants had the power to prevent her death if they had only held sacrosanct their duty to protect the safety of every individual on a set where firearms were present instead of cutting corners on safety procedures where human lives were at stake, rushing to stay on schedule and ignoring numerous complaints of safety violations,” the filings state.

The lawsuit claims there were several complaints by crew members about gun safety on set, including other reported misfires that had occurred in the days leading up to the accident. Following the incident, 500 rounds of live, dummy and blank ammunition were found around the set with director, Joel Souzza, being injured after a lead projectile hit him in the shoulder.

The lawsuit names assistant director, David Halls, and the film's armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, as the principle defendants for handing Baldwin the loaded gun and failing to properly check the weapon respectively. The suit makes references to both Halls and Gutierrez-Reed's dodgy work histories with Halls having previously been fired from a movie after another firearm discharged and injured a crew member, and Gutierrez-Reed having had several complaints about not following gun safety protocols on a film prior to her work on Rust.

According to the filings, Halls and Gutierrez-Reed's negligence was the result of "aggressive cost-cutting practices” being employed by the producers in order to hurry along with the production schedule. In a press conference announcing the lawsuit, Hutchins' lawyers explained that the civil suit will operate “on a parallel track” to ongoing criminal investigation into the matter.

In a recent ABC News interview, Baldwin claimed that he “did not observe any safety or security issues at all” and that he wasn't the one that ultimately pulled the trigger. “Someone is responsible for what happened, and I can’t say who that is, but I know it’s not me,” he added, saying that he would comply with any investigation into the incident.

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