A recent Law 360 story by Rick Archer, “Producer Fights Insurer’s $1.9M Fee Bid in Film Accident Row,” reports that the producer of an Allman Brothers biopic objected to a demand it pay $1.9 million in attorneys’ fees for its unsuccessful attempt to win more insurance coverage for a fatal filming accident, saying it had done nothing worthy of sanction.

Film Allman LLC denied accusations by New York Marine and General Insurance Co. Inc. that the producer’s suit seeking additional coverage for the 2014 accident had been filed in bad faith, saying it had good-faith arguments for all its claims it was owed more coverage than New York Marine provided and should not be expected to pay the insurer’s claimed legal fees.

“Film Allman has a good faith belief in each of its claims, and there is evidence to support them.  Moreover, even if New York Marine is unhappy about some of the results, there is absolutely no evidence that Film Allman did anything for an improper purpose such as harass New York Marine or to cause undue delay or cost,” it said.

An Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigation showed Film Allman didn’t warn crew members working on the film “Midnight Rider” in February 2014 that they were filming on live train tracks or that CSX had denied a filming permit for the tracks prior to an accident on the first day of shooting that killed 27-year-old Sarah Jones and seriously injured several other workers.

In March 2015, the film’s director, assistant director and executive producer, respectively, pled guilty to, was found guilty of and entered an Alford plea to charges of involuntary manslaughter and criminal trespass.  A defendant entering an Alford plea acknowledges that the prosecution has the evidence necessary to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, but nevertheless maintains that he is innocent.  New York Marine provided a defense to Film Allman, paid $5 million of a $6.5 million settlement to Jones' family, and then bowed out because policy limits were exhausted.

Film Allman filed suit against New York Marine in September 2014.  In May U.S. District Judge Otis Wright II ruled New York Marine was entitled to bow out under the terms of the commercial general policy, despite the fact that there are other suits remaining.  In December he had found coverage under a separate motion picture producers policy was barred by a criminal acts exclusion.  In August, New York Marine moved for more than $1.9 million in attorneys’ fees, claiming that as there was no dispute of either the criminal convictions or the policy limits, Film Allman had brought the suit in bad faith.

“As reflected by the record in this case, including in the court’s summary judgment rulings, Film Allman’s claims were fundamentally lacking any legal or evidentiary support and were, instead, based on assertions that it knew were false,” New York Marine said.

Film Allman, however, argued it did have good-faith arguments that Jones’ death did not trigger the exclusion because it had evidence there was genuine confusion over whether permission had been granted to film on the tracks and the death was not directly caused by an intentional criminal act.  It said it also had good-faith arguments that California insurance law required New York Marine to defend it from all of the suits arising from the accident, regardless of the policy limit.

“New York Marine asserts that if Film Allman had only accepted the fact that there was no coverage, it could have saved New York Marine all of its exorbitant litigation expenses.  But the same could be true of any policyholder seeking defense or coverage that an insurer denies,” it said.

The case is Film Allman LLC v. New York Marine and General Insurance Co. Inc., case number 2:14-cv-07069, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.