Disney Sued by Family of Man Killed on Film Set

The family and a colleague of a Disney employee electrocuted while filming in the San Bernardino County desert sued the company Monday, accusing Disney of “negligently and carelessly” picking a work site too close to 115,000-volt power lines and supplying a camera boom that could not be kept out of them.

The boom struck the wires, killing Matthew Gordy, 31, of Thousand Oaks and badly burning 33-year-old David Riggio of Encino as they worked on Disney’s upcoming film, “Dinosaur.”

The men were helping set up the boom in Poison Canyon, near Trona, on Feb. 25 when a counterweight threw it off balance, causing it to rise 40 feet into the power line.

“The real tragedy of this was that the boom had no brake or device to stop it,” said the plaintiffs’ lawyer, Larry Feldman. “Once it began rising toward the power lines, even though there was time to stop it, they were helpless.”

In the suit filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, Riggio and Gordy’s widow, Krista, seek unspecified compensatory damages against the Walt Disney Co., its television, movie and animation divisions as well as Chapman/Leonard Studio Equipment Inc.

“The Disney Defendants negligently managed, oversaw and organized, and supervised the production,” said the court documents, while defects in the “construction and design of the crane” permitted it “to come into contact with the power lines.”

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Disney executives offered no reply. “We don’t comment on pending litigation,” Disney spokesman Ken Green said.

State workplace safety officials are continuing their investigation into the cause of the accident, according to Cal/OSHA spokesman Dean Fryer. He said they were looking into possible equipment malfunctions as well as deficient training.

“It is too early to determine if there are violations attributed to Disney,” Fryer said.

Under state law, workers or equipment are not supposed to come within 10 feet of any power line. But state investigators have already determined that the Inyo-Kern-Searles power line was about 49 feet above where the Disney crew was filming.

They were part of a crew that was shooting live backgrounds for “Dinosaur,” which will combine filmed and animation material.

Preliminary reports showed the crew members arrived at 7:15 a.m. the day of filming. They had set up the metal camera boom mounted on a flatbed trailer when something caused the boom to rise.

One worker was on the truck, adjusting controls, while two others were on the ground adjusting weights and counterweights, Fryer said. So far, Cal/OSHA has not disclosed the positions of Gordy and Riggio.

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After the accident the men were rushed to Ridgecrest Hospital. Gordy died shortly after arrival, while Riggio was examined and transferred to the Grossman Burn Center at Sherman Oaks Hospital and Health Center and treated for electrical burns to his hands, feet and chest.

Riggio still has serious burn injuries and is slowly recovering at home, Feldman said.