Ron Skinner, Anthony Bradley v. Raffaella Productions, et al.
Published: Apr. 27, 2002 | Result Date: Feb. 8, 2002 | Filing Date: Jan. 1, 1900 |Case number: BC194185 Verdict – $0
Court
L.A. Superior Central
Attorneys
Plaintiff
R. Browne Greene
(Greene, Broillet & Wheeler, LLP)
Defendant
Facts
In January 1998, two special effects operators were severely injured while working on the motion picture "Black
Dog." The injuries included major third-degree burns, partial blindness, hearing loss, lower back problems,
knees, psychological and brain damage. The accident involved a premature detonation of a gasoline/black
powder bomb which was part of a truck crash - which can be seen in the initial sequence of Black Dog. OSHA
investigators attributed the premature explosion to a last minute change in the wiring of the explosion and to a
failure by the defendant Black Dog Productions to follow safety guidelines.
The plaintiffs were employed by PixPay, a temporary employment company that specializes in the employment
of motion picture workers. They received workerÆs compensation benefits and, in July 1998, sued the
defendants.
The jury deliberated for several hours before finding that the plaintiffs were also "special employees" of Black
Dog Productions.
Other Information
The case is noteworthy in that it raises issues well established in film industry employment practices, whereby specified and carefully selected skilled professionals are chosen to work on a project and are supervised during the course of the project. But the employees are actually employed by a corporation other than the production company which is incorporated for one specific movie. PixPay is one such specialized and well-known corporation in the industry and was the actual employer of the plaintiffs. The case was important because production companies have traditionally been able to limit their financial exposure for injuries by purchasing workerÆs compensation insurance and by purchasing liability insurance. If the plaintiffs would have been successful in their suit, it would, the defendants contended, become impossible to insure against the type of losses they sustained, and the ability to make movies with dangerous stunts and special effects would be substantially curtailed. This case was bifurcated on the issue of special employment only. During this phase, the jury did not hear any evidence of willful, reckless or negligent conduct by any of the defendants, nor the nature and extent of plaintiffÆs injuries. The liability phase is still pending against other defendants, including Universal Studios Inc., Universal City Studios Inc., Rafaella Productions Inc., and Prelude Pictures. Moreover, this phase was not dispositive of Black Dog ProductionsÆ liability depending on the outcome of the choice-of-law issue. The accident happened in North Carolina, and the plaintiffsÆ claim that North Carolina law applies. Under North Carolina law, an employee may sue his employer for willful conduct in conscious disregard for the safety of its employees. The choice-of-law issue is being briefed and has not been decided by the trial court. The court did not allow any evidence of Black DogÆs control or lack of control of safety on the set including the fact that Black Dog violated industry-wide guidelines as well as its own safety manual concerning the use of pyrotechnics on a movie set. The court did not allow any evidence of an accident involving a similar stunt/explosion the prior day that resulted in second and third-degree burns to a stunt man. The court did not allow a consistent statement of one plaintiff to counter a prior inconsistent statement that was admitted of that plaintiff. The court gave a special jury instruction that nothing the defendants did with respect to setting up the special employment situation was illegal or improper in any manner.
Deliberation
four hours
Poll
12-0
Length
17 days
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