Tom Cruise’s film in legal trouble over plane crash deaths
Los Angeles, July 22 (IANS) The producers of Tom Cruise-starrer “American Made” are being sued by the families of two men who died in a September 2015 plane crash on the film’s set.
Three of the pilots hired for the movie were involved in a plane crash during filming when their twin-engine Piper Smith Aerostar 600 went down in the mountains.
Alan Purwin and Carlos Berl died at the scene, while Jimmy Lee Garland was left without feeling in the lower half of his body.
Purwin and Berl’s families are both suing the producers — Imagine Entertainment, Vendian Entertainment and Cross Creek Pictures — for wrongful death and damages, according to court documents obtained by people.com.
They allege that the production companies ignored safety procedures before the flight in order to save time and money. The families are also suing each other, with Berl’s family filing a suit against Garland, the only survivor.
There is uncertainty as to who was actually flying the small aircraft.
Berl’s family’s suit names Garland, the survivor, as the pilot – a claim Garland denied to The Hollywood Reporter, saying he was there “as a mechanic”.
The Purwin family suit, meanwhile, says Purwin was just a passenger on the flight. Garland, however, has no memory of the crash and can’t recall either way.
The movie, out on September 29, was shot on location in Colombia.
The Berl family suit alleges that the flight was “rushed” in order to save money because the movie was “behind schedule”, reports people.com.
Furthermore, the suit alleges that the terrain over which the plane flew was “unsuitably difficult for such an instructional” flight, especially considering it was allegedly rushed, unscheduled and had “limited flight data and weather instrumentation” onboard the aircraft.
The lawyer representing Berl’s family said they hope their lawsuit establishes stricter regulations on safety.
