Trial Magazine

Sarah Jones, a 27-year-old camera assistant, was working on the filming of a movie. On the first day of shooting, the crew was in a rural area of Georgia, preparing to film a shot on a narrow, 110-year-old trestle-style railroad bridge over the Altamaha River. The crew’s location manager had previously requested permission to film on the trestle, but the track owner, CSX Transportation, Inc., stated shortly before filming that it could not “support” the production.

Before the cast and crew went onto the trestle, two CSX freight trains came through. When several concerned crew members asked whether more trains would be crossing the bridge, they were allegedly assured that there would be no more trains and that, in the event a train did appear, the crew would have 60 seconds to clear the track.

The cast and crew went onto the trestle. To prepare for the scene, which involved a dream sequence, several crew members placed a twin-size, metal-framed hospital bed in the middle of the tracks.

As filming began, another CSX freight train approached the bridge. When the train was approximately 26 seconds away, the engineer began sounding the horn continuously. Several actors and crew members managed to get off the trestle and onto the riverbank, but others did not have time to escape. Several crew members ended up clinging to the trestle’s metal girders, while others—including Jones—were still trying to carry equipment off the tracks. As the train came through at approximately 56 mph, it collided with the metal hospital bed, which struck and killed Jones. Several other crew members were injured by flying shrapnel.

After the incident, the film’s director, Randall Miller, pleaded guilty to charges of involuntary manslaughter and criminal trespass as part of a deal that permitted the same charges to be dropped against his wife, one of the film’s producers. He was sentenced to two years in jail and fined $20,000. Two other people involved with the film, including another producer and an assistant director, also reportedly pleaded guilty to charges and received probation and fines.

Jones’s parents sued CSX on behalf of their daughter’s estate, alleging that the railroad was negligent in failing to take precautions that could have prevented the fatal collision.

The plaintiffs presented evidence that when the two freight trains came through in the hour before the incident, crew members were standing on both sides of the railroad tracks. Despite this, the plaintiffs claimed, neither train operator called to alert dispatchers, although the ­railroad’s policy required train operators to report trespassers on its tracks or rights of way immediately.

The plaintiffs also argued that the operator of the train that struck Jones was negligent in failing to timely brake. The plaintiffs presented event recorder evidence showing that the engineer first applied the brakes only after striking the hospital bed.
The plaintiffs also sued Miller, his company, and several other individuals who worked on the film, alleging that they were negligent in using the bridge without permission and in failing to take standard safety measures customarily used in the film industry, including designating a safety coordinator, holding a safety meeting, providing the cast and crew with detailed call sheets outlining safety procedures, and posting lookouts down the tracks from the filming site.

Instead, the plaintiffs claimed, the crew members were placed in a deadly situation, misinformed, given conflicting instructions, and left to fend for themselves. The plaintiffs contended that the filmmaker defendants never should have used the tracks without permission.

Finally, suit named the company that owned the land where the bridge was located.

The filmmaker and landowner defendants settled early in the litigation for confidential amounts, and the case continued against CSX, with the other defendants remaining on the verdict form.

The railroad argued that the ­filmmakers were solely at fault, pointing to two emails in which the railroad had explicitly denied the crew’s production manager permission to use the tracks. The train operator also argued that he had not braked sooner because he was concerned that doing so would cause the train to derail.

The jury allocated fault at 35 percent to CSX, 28 percent to Miller, 19 percent to three other film company employees, and 18 percent to the company that owned the land. The jury then awarded approximately $11.22 million, including approximately $9.23 million in wrongful death damages to the estate and approximately $1.99 million for Jones’s conscious predeath pain and suffering. After allocation of fault, the railroad is responsible for approximately $3.93 million.

Citation: Jones v. CSX Transp., Inc., No. STCV1400752SA (Ga. St. Ct. Chatham Cnty. July 17, 2017).

Plaintiff counsel: AAJ member Jeffrey R. Harris, Savannah, Ga.; and AAJ members Yvonne S. Godfrey and Rebecca Franklin Harris, both of Atlanta.

Plaintiff experts: Shane Remy, forensic engineering, Tallahassee, Fla.; Jim Scott, railroad operations, Kingsport, Tenn.; and J.P. Gingras, economics, Atlanta.

Defense expert: Gary Wolf, railroad operations, Avondale Estates, Ga.