Back in September, we brought you the story about Gabriela Cedillo, the young woman who was working as an extra on the Indiana set of Michael Bay‘s next entry into the Transformers franchise, Transformers: The Dark of the Moon. The 24-year old is currently being treated at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago after being hit in the head by a piece of flying metal during a stunt sequence in Hammond, Indiana.
[Read the original story here]
Just last week, Cedillo’s family filed a lawsuit against Paramount Pictures for negligence. Cedillo’s attorney Todd Smith told TMZ that “Paramount made an offer to cover “reasonable and necessary medical expenses” and he says “Gabriela just ended a 30-day stint in ICU where she was treated for the skull injuries she suffered last month.”
The legal complaint read:
“[Cedillo] has endured and will in the future endure pain and suffering; has become disfigured and disabled; has suffered a loss of the enjoyment of a normal life; has been damaged in her capacity to earn a living; has incurred and will in the future incur expenses for medical services, all of which are permanent in nature”
Now, the Indiana Occupational Safety and Health Administration has blamed a technical malfunction and found that producers had followed all proper procedures. Officials said the accident was “unforeseeable,” and the movie’s production company would not face fines or citations.
“IOSHA investigators believe the accident occurred due to the failure of a weld connecting a car to a tow cable,” the agency said in a statement. “The weld was made by a certified welder and all necessary safety precautions were in place, thus no citations or fines will be issued. This was an unfortunate and unforeseeable accident.”
Paramount has stated from the beginning that it will cover all of her medical bills.
Transformers 3 (Transformers: The Dark of the Moon) is slated to hit theaters on July 1st, 2011 and stars Shia LaBeouf, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Frances McDormand, John Malkovich, Kevin Dunn, Julie White, Ken Jeong, Patrick Dempsey and Alan Tudyk.
