Dave Halls, who served as assistant director on Rust when Halyna Hutchins was killed, is countersuing Alec Baldwin over who is to blame for Hutchins’ death and the injury of director Joel Souza. Earlier this year, Baldwin filed a negligence lawsuit against Halls, armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, prop master Sarah Zachry and ammunition supplier Seth Kenney, laying responsibility at their feet. Halls’ countersuit, on the other hand, asserts that Baldwin and other crew members’ “active and primary negligenceâ€Â were the problem. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Halls’ suit is connected to script supervisor Mamie Mitchell’s lawsuit, which alleges a blatantly negligent safety culture on the set of Rust and violations of many industry standards and norms around firearms. Halls is named in that suit because he handled the gun shortly before its firing, giving it to Baldwin.
A Los Angeles Superior Court judge ruled that Halls couldn’t have known Baldwin would fire the gun, as the scene did not require it. But that ruling did not affect civil suits. Should Mitchell win her lawsuit, Halls is seeking that Baldwin, Gutierrez-Reed, Zachry and Kenney pay his share of damages. He also claims breach of contract over the production’s failure to “procure the required insuranceâ€Â and include him in the policy.