Alec Baldwin wants 'misguided' Halyna Hutchins lawsuit dismissed

Attorneys for Alec Baldwin have filed a motion to dismiss one of the lawsuits filed against him and others connected to his ill-fated Western movie, "Rust," in which an accidental live round in a prop gun killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and wounded director Joel Souza.

The "notice of demurrer," filed Thursday and obtained by Newsday, argues that Hutchins' parents and sister, Ukrainian citizens who reside in the capital of Kyiv, lack standing to sue. The three filed suit Feb. 9, seeking damages for "loss of consortium," a personal-injury claim typically brought by a victim's relatives for the loss of companionship and affection.

"The loss of a daughter and sister is undoubtedly painful in any circumstance," the motion acknowledges. "Yet Plaintiffs — who had been distanced from Halyna physically, financially, and emotionally for years before her death — have no viable cause of action against Defendants." Calling the Feb. 9 lawsuit "especially misguided," the motion states that the law in California, where the suit was filed, requires such a claim to be filed on behalf of a spouse and no other family member.

The motion adds there also is not "a sufficiently close relationship" under the laws of New Mexico, where the accident took place in October 2021.

The plaintiffs' high-profile attorney, Gloria Allred, countered in a statement to Newsday: "It is abundantly clear under New Mexico law, which will be applied in the California court, that he [Baldwin] is responsible for all of the harm he did to the entirety of Halyna Hutchins’ family. We are here to make sure that he is held accountable for his actions."

Allred had said in February that Hutchins was close to her parents, Anatolii Androsovych and Olga Solovey, and her younger sister, Svetlana Zemko. "Halyna’s plan and her family’s plan was always for Halyna to bring her family to the United States so that they could be together," the attorney said.

"Rust" producer-star Baldwin in October settled a wrongful-death lawsuit filed on behalf of Hutchins' husband, Matthew Hutchins, and the couple's son, Andros. Other lawsuits remain pending against the three-time Emmy Award winner. He and the film's armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, also face criminal charges of involuntary manslaughter in Santa Fe County, New Mexico. Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed have pleaded not guilty.

Dave Halls, the film’s first assistant director and its safety coordinator, pleaded no contest on March 31 to a charge of negligent use of a deadly weapon, and was sentenced to 6 months of unsupervised probation.