Gregg Allman, Producer Settle Over Movie Crew Train Crash

Gregg Allman has agreed to drop his lawsuit against movie producers who were making a film about the singer’s life when a freight train plowed into their crew and killed a camera assistant in Wayne County, Georgia.

Attorneys for the Allman Brothers Band singer and Unclaimed Freight Productions told a judge in a state court in Savannah that they reached an out-of-court agreement a day after Allman’s lawyer grilled film director Randall Miller on the witness stand about the Feb. 20 crash in Georgia state.

Attorneys declined to discuss details of the deal, including whether Miller would be able to move forward with reviving the “Midnight Rider” movie.

“We have come together and reasoned with one another,” Allman attorney David Long-Daniels told the judge. He declined to comment further outside of court, as did Miller’s attorney, Donnie Dixon.

Allman filed suit against the film producers April 28, saying their rights to his life story had lapsed because they failed to meet production deadlines. Long-Daniels said Allman wanted Miller and his production company off the project because the train crash had harmed the singer’s reputation.

Investigators say Miller, his crew and actor William Hurt, who was to star as Allman, were shooting on a railroad bridge spanning the Altamaha River when a train came upon them at 55 mph (88 kph). The train crashed through a bed set on the tracks as a prop and struck and killed 28-year-old camera assistant Sarah Jones. Others were injured either by the train or flying debris. Sheriff’s investigators said the crew did not have a permit from CSX Railroad, which owns the tracks. Local prosecutors are still weighing whether to file criminal charges.

Allman, who had a liver transplant in 2010 and canceled performances in March because of illness, wasn’t in court Monday or Tuesday. His attorney told the judge the 66-year-old singer remains in poor health.