$8.6M awarded in wrongful death lawsuit of ‘The Walking Dead’ stuntman John Bernecker
On December 19, a jury in Gwinnett County, Georgia, came to a unanimous verdict and awarded the estate of John Bernecker, the stuntman who died on the set of AMC’s “The Walking Dead” TV show, a total of $8.6 million to resolve Bernecker’s family’s wrongful death lawsuit.
The jury found Stalwart Films and TWD Productions VIII negligent in the death of Bernecker. Though both companies are subsidiaries of AMC Networks, the jury did not find the network negligent. ~ USA Today
The victim’s family filed the wrongful death lawsuit in 2018 and was originally looking for upwards of $100 million in damages. According to TMZ, Bernecker’s mother was “banking on getting a big punitive damage award, but the jury didn’t buy it and awarded nothing in punitives.”
The tragic news of Bernecker’s death unfolded from the set of AMC’s “The Walking Dead” after it was reported that the veteran stuntman died on the set after a choreographed fall from a 20 foot balcony went fatally wrong. The fall occurred July 12, 2017, on the set of TWD.
TMZ reported that when Bernecker hit the ground, he missed his safety cushion by only scant inches and landed directly on a concrete slab. Suffering blunt force trauma to the head as a result of the fall, Bernecker was choppered to the Atlanta Medical Center, was placed on a ventilator, but later died from his injuries.
After authorities were called to the scene, Assistant director Matthew Goodwin told police that Bernecker “didn’t appear to get good separation from the balcony when he started falling, and even attempted to abort the fall by grabbing onto the railing with both hands.” Goodwin went on to say that the stuntman’s momentum while falling forward “slammed him into the bottom of the balcony and then he released his hands and fell … landing on his head and neck … right next to the cushion.”
In addition to being a veteran stuntman, Bernecker was also a highly respected fight choreographer. According to his IMDB bio, he had contributed to such projects as “Black Panther,” “Logan,” “Fantastic Four,” “Olympus Has Fallen,” “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” and “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay” – to name only a few.
On Thursday in court, the jury also ruled Bernecker was 6% liable for his own negligence.
“The Walking Dead” is currently in its tenth season of production. That production was temporarily halted during season 8 in light of the fatal accident.
~ Written by: Richard Webster, Ace News Today / Follow Richard on Facebook and Twitter
