Here's What Lawyers Will Argue Over in 'Walking Dead' Trial
John Bernecker, 33, died from a 25-foot stunt fall off a balcony on "The Walking Dead" set in 2017. His parents, Susan and Hagen Bernecker, are suing AMC and affiliated entities, alleging they cut corners on budgets and safety. The defendants have denied liability, saying the death was a tragic accident.
December 04, 2019 at 02:07 PM
6 minute read
Lawyers are preparing the wrongful death trial next week for a stuntman who was killed by a fall on the set of "The Walking Dead," AMC's zombie drama filmed in Georgia.
The case is to be tried before Gwinnett County State Court Judge Emily J. Brantley. She has signed a consolidated pretrial order detailing witnesses, motions and arguments to be made by both sides. Jury selection is set to begin Monday and opening statements are planned for Tuesday.
John Bernecker, 33, died from a 25-foot stunt fall off a balcony for Episode 807 of "The Walking Dead" on July 12, 2017. His parents, Susan and Hagen Bernecker, are suing AMC and affiliated entities, including the production company hired to create the show, Stalwart Films. They say their son was an experienced stuntman with more than 100 film credits, and he died because he was working for people who cut corners on safety. The defendants have denied all charges.
The filming location is the city of Senoia in Coweta County, southeast of Atlanta. The trial venue is the location of the defendant's corporate representative.
The complaint alleges that AMC "put pressure on the production services company, Stalwart Films, to produce episodes of The Walking Dead as cheaply as possible" and "orchestrated a pattern of filming and producing The Walking Dead cheaply and, ultimately, unsafely."
The parents accuse the companies of "cutting corners" on safety precautions, including the "apple box" used to give stunt performers additional height or leverage to control falls and the area of padding below to prevent contact with the ground. The complaint said the "port-a-pit" pads on top of 22-inch cardboard boxes tied together by rope did not fully extend under the balcony and that no air bags or spotters were in place to avert disaster.
AMC has denied all the charges and alleged that Bernecker assumed the risk of his dangerous job and died because of his own negligence. The company's summary in the pretrial order said he "voluntarily" attempted a "high-fall stunt" and rehearsed it in advance. But then during filming, the defense summary said, he "unexpectedly" grabbed the balcony railing just before he went over, breaking the fall enough to cause him to land too close to the balcony instead of further out, where he himself had directed the pads to be located.
"Almost immediately after the stunt sequence began, Bernecker unexpectedly grabbed the top railing on the balcony, which was contrary to the instructions he had been given. For reasons only he could know, Bernecker unexpectedly continued to hold onto the railing with his left hand as he went up and over," the defense summary said. "Bernecker's unforeseeable decision to continue holding onto the railing altered his trajectory and caused his body to swing underneath the balcony. As this was occurring, Bernecker made several more purposeful movements which caused him to miss the cater system and land upside down several feet underneath the balcony."
What went on in Bernecker's mind in those final moments will be an intense point of argument for the trial. The parents' lawyers will assert that he was pushed off course by an inexperienced actor who was instructed not to touch Bernecker while faking a shooting and a shove off the balcony. Instead, the parents allege, the actor made contact, throwing off the stunt and the trajectory of the fall.
"Negligence on the stunt is the heart of the case," Susan Bernecker's attorney, Jeffrey Harris of Harris Lowry Manton in Savannah and Atlanta, said in October. "At the end of the day, it's going to be a straightforward question of whether the actor and the production company were negligent in the way they set up the stunt."
Harris represented the family of camera assistant Sarah Jones over her 2014 death while filming "Midnight Rider" near Savannah. After years of litigation, the family reached a confidential settlement with CSX Transportation in January. The undisclosed payment satisfied a $3.9 million judgment against the railroad resulting from apportionment of a 2017 verdict totaling $11.2 million. It concluded the case against the last of a series of defendants involved in the train crash on the set of a movie about musician Gregg Allman.
Pete Law of Law & Moran is representing the father. Law said Harris will take the lead. Law said he may provide some additional statements and questions, but if so, they will be minimal.
Still, the defense has objected to any additional words from the second plaintiff's lawyer in front of the jury and promised to respond by doubling up on its own arguments, according to the pretrial order.
AMC and Stalwart are represented by Jackson Dial, David Dial and Joshua Wood of Weinberg Wheeler Hudgins Gunn & Dial. They deferred comment to a company spokesman, who shared an emailed statement last month.
"This was a tragic accident, and we have and continue to express our deepest condolences to the family of John Bernecker," the company said. "As it relates to the litigation, we will let our legal and factual defenses speak for themselves."
The company did not provide any additional statement after a request this week.
Another point of tension that remains is whether the jury will be able to hear about the tax credits the state government gives companies to film in Georgia.
"Pursuant to the Georgia Entertainment Industry Investment Act, the State of Georgia offers significant tax incentives for networks and production companies like AMC to produce films and television shows in Georgia," the plaintiffs' portion of the consolidated pretrial order said. One of the defendants accused of negligence on the stunt is TWD Productions, which the plaintiff's summary said AMC created as a wholly owned subsidiary for the purpose of receiving those tax credits.
The defense has objected to any reference to AMC being involved in the production of the show it airs. The defense summary said the companies object to the family's outline of the case "to the extent it references financial information about tax credits and incentives." The defense said such references are "wholly irrelevant as to liability or damages in this case."
Bernecker's parents will be asking for the full value of his life, plus pain and suffering and punitive damages.
The case is Bernecker v. Stalwart, No. 18-C-00435-1.
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