Kelley | Uustal was featured in The Washington Post this week surrounding our case against National Geographic, Disney, and Hulu. KU’s lawsuit alleged that a documentary exposed the identities of at-risk people and led to the torture and death of our client.
“The dead man’s estate is represented by a prominent Florida law firm, Kelley | Uustal, that won an $82 million jury award in a business-dispute case for hip-hop artist Flo Rida. The firm has also done legal work on behalf of a teenager who claims he is the rightful owner of the baseball that Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani knocked into the stands last year for his historic 50th home run, setting off a violent fan scramble.” – The Washington Post
A new Washington Post article has shed light on filmmakers’ internal discussions and warnings they received before release of the documentary, including explicit concerns about our client’s safety. The Washington Post reported: “Documents show that not only did the “Retrograde” crew receive general warnings from current and former U.S. service members before its theatrical and streaming debuts about the risks of endangering Afghans shown in the movie, they also appear to have received a specific warning about the man who was later killed.”
“It was just so needlessly unsafe to me,” explained a documentary crew member who conducted a security review. “They chose to put this guy into the spotlight when there were other shots and materials available to not do that. There are tons of different ways to do this scene that anonymize him or don’t feature him so prominently. […] To knowingly put someone in danger for the benefit of your movie is selfish.”
When powerful media entities are warned that their choices will put lives at risk, what duty do they owe? We believe that ignoring those warnings, at the cost of human life, demands accountability.
John Uustal, Kelley | Uustal Founding Partner explains: “This case is about the basic duty to protect human life. Our client was shown on screen after specific warnings flagged him as vulnerable. The filmmakers had the power to blur his face and they chose not to. That choice had fatal consequences.”
Read the full article on The Washington Post.
