Film Companies Subjected to $60 Million Jury Prize Sue Insurance Company [The Santa Fe New Mexican] – InsuranceNewsNet

Jan. 16 – Two film companies ordered by a jury last month to pay more than $60 million to an injured cameraman on a film set New Mexico allege in a new lawsuit that their insurance company should have settled with James Razo before bringing them to justice.

Razo, who lives in Los Angeleshad continued Black Label Media and No Exit Film after being injured in 2016 on the set of Only the Brave, a film about a group of Hotshot elite firefighters filmed in part at Pajarito Mountain Ski area near Los Alamos.

His job required the use of a mobile camera crane weighing about 3,000 pounds when fully loaded, according to his lawsuit, filed in 2019 in state district court.

Filming took place atop a peak in difficult mountainous terrain, Razo’s suit said, adding that he requested time to install tank tracks on the unit, which would have taken about three hours, and to spot the steep road up the mountain.

Instead, he alleged, he was asked to bring the camera unit to the set immediately, and as he climbed the mountain, the front of the camera unit lost weight. traction and began to slide, eventually standing upright on his rear wheels before tipping backwards, knocking Razo out and trapping him under his weight.

Razo was airlifted to University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque with severe spinal cord and brain damage. Several parts of his body were crushed, he said in a recent interview.

After several years of litigation, the case went to trial in December and a jury awarded Razo and his wife more than

$66 million.

Determined jurors Black Label Media was responsible for 63% of his injuries and No Exit Film for 18%, according to a special verdict form. The jury also determined that Razo was

19 percent liable for the incident, which reduced the amount of damages owed to him by approximately $6 million.

State District Judge Matthew Wilson rendered a final judgment in the case January 5ordering the two companies to pay Razo more than $60 millionone of the biggest prizes of New Mexico the story.

The companies filed a complaint the next day against New York Marine and General Insurance alleging breach of contract. The January 6 The lawsuit says the insurance company put its own interests ahead of those of the movie companies by failing to reach a settlement with Razo.

Neither party responded to calls seeking comment on Monday.

The companies had two policies with New York Marine with a combined limit of liability of $11 millionaccording to the complaint.

The movie companies repeatedly asked the insurance company to settle the claim, the lawsuit says, but New York Marine refused. Instead, he hired an outside attorney to dispute Razo’s claim for several years. The companies again demanded the settlement as the trial approached. New York Marine consistently refused and only made offers “less than appropriate,” the lawsuit says.

Four days before December 19 lawsuit, he says, the Razo family asked $9 million to settle the matter, but the insurance company refused and “made no counter-offer”.

During the trial, the insurer offered the family $5 millionsaid the suit, but the “bet didn’t pay off”.

The jury returned a verdict in favor of the Razo family

December 23.

The film companies claim the insurer has suggested it ‘will not take responsibility for its failed bet’ and will not pay more than policy limits or fully cover a bond that would need to be posted to appeal of judgment.

The insurer’s actions constitute a “tort breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing”, according to the companies. They are asking the state district court to find that New York Marine has breached its obligations and to order it to pay all costs resulting from the company’s failure to settle the case.

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