Hancock, FNL Director Sued Over Kingdom Death

Thu., Aug. 7, 2008 3:45 PM PDT by

Peter Berg Lisa O'Connor/ZUMAPress.com

Peter Berg might have to put his own John Hancock on a check soon.

The parents of a crewmember who was killed in an August 2006 accident while working on the Hancock director's war thriller The Kingdom have sued Berg, the driver of the vehicle that hit their son, Nicholas Papac, and a Los Angeles production company for funeral expenses and other damages. (View the lawsuit.)

Filming had just wrapped for the day on a closed-off stretch of Phoenix highway when the Cadillac Escalade that Berg was riding in collided with a golf cart-sized utility vehicle that Papac was driving on a road in Mesa, Ariz.

Paramedics were called to the scene, and Papac, who had been working as assistant propmaster on The Kingdom, died later at a nearby hospital, according to a statement released at the time by Universal Pictures/Forward Pass.

Mike Papac and Michele Bell are asking for unspecified damages that would include the cost of their son's funeral, medical expenses and lost earnings.

Berg, who also directed Friday Night Lights and serves as an executive producer on the TV drama of the same name, was not injured in the crash. His attorney hasn't immediately responded to requests for comment.

Francis D. Keao, who was behind the wheel of the SUV, and Beverly Hills-based 44 Films were also named as defendants in the negligence suit filed Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court.

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