Wednesday, May 23, 2012

$18.5 million settlement in 'Transformers 3' accident - @chicagotribune

An $18.5 million settlement has been reached with a woman who was seriously injured while working as an extra for the third Transformers movie.

Gabriela Cedillo, 26 was in a scene being filmed with stunt vehicles on Sept. 1, 2010 when a cable pulling another car broke loose and smashed through the windshield of her Scion, according to an Indiana Occupational Safety and Health Administration report.

The cable ripped through the right side of her head and caused severe brain damage, according to her attorney Todd Smith, who said Cedillo has undergone several surgeries.

Her brother, Rudy Romo, said her longterm prognosis is unclear. “We don’t know,” he said Wednesday. “We have a long road ahead of us.”

Cedillo was driving west on Cline Avenue in Hammond as one of about 80 extras hired during the stunt, called a "cable-pull rollover," a common way of simulating a car being flipped over with precision timing, said Conrad Palmisano, a veteran stuntman who was on the set the day Cedillo was hurt.

A cable is welded to the underside of a car, which is towed behind a trailer rigged with a sort of catapult that will jerk the cable and flip the car, which is safer and easier than using ramps or explosions to roll the car, Palmisano said.

Smith said the cable snapped because the welding was shoddy.

An attempt to film the scene the previous day had failed, and Smith charged that the production company, Paramount Pictures, was more concerned with the bottom line than ensuring the safety of the extras during the second try.
 
“Our view was that, if you do welds properly, things like this don’t happen,” Smith said.
 
Cedillo needs 24-hour care and has suffered hallucinations, memory loss and significant cognitive difficulty, Smith and Romo said. While she does have limited walking ability, she has lost some movement on the left side of her body, they said.
 
A portion of the settlement will be set aside for monthly disbursements to ensure she has care for the reminder of her life.