The mother of the “Walking Dead” stuntman who died in a fall last month has hired Jeffrey R. Harris, the attorney who won an $11.2 million verdict in the case of the “Midnight Rider” train fatality.
Susan Bernecker, the mother of stuntman John Bernecker, is expected to file a lawsuit within the next few weeks, according to the firm. John Bernecker was killed after falling from a height of 22 feet onto a concrete floor. Initial reports stated that he missed the padding by inches.
“Accidents like that do not happen on a production without some mistake being made,” Harris told Variety in July. “That’s a self-evident principle of law.”
Harris represented the parents of Sarah Jones, the camera assistant who was struck by a train and killed on the set of “Midnight Rider” in 2014. In July, a jury awarded Richard and Elizabeth Jones $11.2 million.
Bernecker, 33, was an experienced stuntman with a long list of major credits to his name. According to a sheriff’s report, Bernecker was shooting a scene in which he was supposed to fall from a balcony. But he failed to get clean separation from the balcony and seemed to try to abort the fall, the report stated. He then fell backward onto the concrete, landing on his head and neck.
The incident was at least the second major injury to occur on the set of “The Walking Dead.” In 2013, a military vehicle ran over an actor, fracturing his pelvis.