Greg Allman and Open Road Films dropped from Sarah Jones civil lawsuit

• Courtesy Slates for Sarah

Greg Allman, Michael Lehman, and Open Road Films have been dropped from the civil lawsuit filed by the parents of Sarah Jones. A camera assistant, Jones was killed by an oncoming train during filming for the Allman biopic Midnight Rider.

An investigation into the events that led to Jones’ Feb. 20 death found that Allman, Lehman, and Open Road were “not directly involved in the poor decisions that led to this horrific event and tragic loss of Sarah’s life,” said Jones family attorney Jeff Harris in a statement from his firm Harris Penn Lowry LLP.

“In the days and months following the accident, the Jones family was unable to access most of the evidence in this case because of legal protections in place as a part of the pending federal and state investigations into occupational safety, railway safety and potential criminal and civil liability,” said Harris of the lawsuit filed in Chatham County State Court back in May. However, Harris said an investigation into the actions of the remaining defendants is still ongoing. Those defendants include the film’s husband-and-wife production team of Randall Miller and Jody Savin. Miller was the film’s director at the time of the accident.

Another ongoing occurrence are the dedications to Jones. Along with an Oct. 5 walk-a-thon held by the show teams and cast of “The Vampire Diaries” and “The Originals,” the most recent show of love came in the current season of AMC’s “The Walking Dead,” where a fictional church was named in Jones’ honor.

“The legal process is working and questions are being answered,” said Sarah’s father Richard Jones. “During a very difficult and trying time for our family, Greg Allman and Michael Lehman demonstrated their genuine sorrow over the loss of our daughter and their willingness to work with us in the future to ensure safe film sets for all. For that, we are grateful.”