An East Bridgewater man died due to COVID-19 in 2021. A new lawsuit is claiming ignored protocols during work on “American Horror Story” are to blame.
The 10th season of “American Horror story” was partially filmed in Provincetown and previously known as “Pilgrim.” The season is now called “American Horror Story: Double Feature.”
“In American Horror Story: Double Feature a family moves to an isolated beach town where its true residents make themselves known,” the description reads on Amazon Prime.
The season brought in big name actors, such as Macaulay Culkin, Kathy Bates, Evan Peters and Sarah Paulson. Finn Wittrock, a Massachusetts native and known for playing Dandy Mott and Tristan Duffy in other seasons, was seen filming on Commercial Street in Provincetown.
Paul Woodward was employed by Entertainment Partners LP to work on the movie set to provide transportation services, the lawsuit states. He first reported to work on Feb. 26, 2021. As part of the job, the lawsuit states, he checked into the Harbor Hotel in Provincetown “where he was provided with room and board along with many other workers on Defendants’ Project.”
At that time, according to court documents, he tested negative for COVID-19.
Woodward “remained within the isolated Project, continuously working extended hours, until he contracted COVID-19 and fell ill with COVID-19 symptoms,” the lawsuit reads.
He then left the filming site and hotel around March 13, 2021 for the hospital. He died about a month later from COVID-19, it states.
According to his obituary, he had been working as a driver for the Teamsters Local 25 Movie Division for nine years, including for “Grown Ups 2,″ “The Heat,” “The Judge,” “The Forger,” “The Finest Hours,” “Ghostbusters” and “Knives Out.”
“Paul had a great love of life. He loved to go snowmobiling, boating, jet-skiing, driving antique cars, and spending time with family,” it read, adding that “he had a great sense of humor and loved telling stories to friends and family.”
The obituary states he left behind his wife of 25 years, a son, daughter and “beloved cocker spaniel Mookie.”
But the lawsuit claims his death was preventable.
“From the Project’s outset, Defendants knowingly violated and failed to enforce their own COVID-19 safety protocols as well as other similar occupational industry standards designed to keep the Project workers safe during the pandemic,” it reads.
According to the lawsuit, other vans had “spit-shields” or other “protective barrier to separate him from Defendants’ passengers and guard against the transmission of the COVID-19 virus.” His van, however, did not.
“There was also supposed to be safe distancing and occupancy limits of Defendants’ passengers inside the Decedent’s van but this rule was ignored by Defendants’ passengers and not enforced by Defendants,” it states.
And, according to the lawsuit, masks were required “but this rule was ignored and not enforced.”
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“Defendants owed a duty of reasonable care to everyone working on the Project (including [Woodward]) to develop, establish, implement, and enforce COVID-19 safety protocols,” the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit was filed by Paul’s wife, Patricia Woodward. It names Twentieth Center Fox Film, Twentieth Television, Ryan Murphy Productions and The Walt Disney Company as defendants.
