The producers of a new Tom Cruise film, American Made, have been sued by the family of a pilot killed in an aeroplane accident during filming.
The complaint was filed on 14 September by the family of Carlos Berl following the crash of a twin-engined Piper Aerostar plane on 11 September 2015 in the Andes mountains near Medellín, Colombia. Berl died, along with experienced stunt pilot Alan Purwin. Another pilot, Jimmy Lee Garland, survived with serious injuries.
The family allege that the defendants, which include major Hollywood outfits Imagine Entertainment and Cross Creek Pictures, as well as Purwin’s estate, “so negligently, unlawfully and carelessly supervised, prepared, instructed, operated, entrusted, piloted, flew, controlled, and directed the Subject Aircraft so as to cause and/or allow it to collide with terrain, grievously injuring plaintiff s decedent, Carlos Berl, who perished as a result of the injuries sustained in the crash”.
The Berl family action follows an earlier wrongful death suit against American Made’s producers by Purwin’s family, in which Berl is claimed to have piloted the plane but “lacked the necessary qualifications, skills, competence, and general sustainability for the flight”. This case is still ongoing.
American Made, which was originally titled Mena, stars Cruise as former commercial pilot Barry Seal, who smuggled large amounts of drugs into the US on behalf of the Medellín cartel, while also working for the CIA and Drugs Enforcement Agency. It is due for release in September 2017.
