MGM Grand fails to have Crawford’s lawsuit dismissed

Bill Gang

Thursday, Dec. 2, 1999 | 10:31 a.m.

A District Court jury will get to decide entertainer Michael Crawford's lawsuit alleging he was injured repeatedly during two years of physically demanding performances in "EFX" at the MGM Grand.

District Judge Mark Gibbons on Wednesday rejected a bid by the resort and a variety of other defendants in the case to have the lawsuit dismissed because it wasn't filed in time under the law.

Crawford left the show in August 1996 because of a hip injury that required surgery in December 1996. It was then that he learned the injuries suffered while working on "EFX" were extensive and required a hip replacement, according to court documents.

Crawford, who parlayed his stardom in Broadway's "Phantom of the Opera" into a $150,000-a-week role in the "EFX" production, sued the resort in January 1998.

But because the injuries were alleged to have occurred well before Crawford left the show, attorneys for the MGM Grand argued that he missed by six months the two-year deadline for filing legal action.

Crawford's lawyers countered that the eventual hip replacement surgery was caused by "repetitive trauma" suffered over the singer's 610 performances.

The attorneys alleged "there were numerous equipment failures throughout the run of "EFX" and each performance either added an injury or exacerbated a prior injury."

In rejecting the bid to dismiss the lawsuit, Gibbons noted that before surgery doctors originally told Crawford that the hip injury likely was arthritis, a hernia or some other naturally occurring problem.

"Only invasive surgery revealed the true injury, which may be attributable to the alleged negligence of the defendants based on some of the testimony presented in court," the judge stated in his 25-page decision.

The lawsuit, filed by attorney Steven Parsons, contends that Crawford's "debilitating and permanent injury" to a hip and his groin area were the result of special effect stunts that went awry.

The lawsuit details several 1995 incidents during rehearsals for "EFX" that resulted in tumbles and contributed to a possible need for a hip replacement.

A mechanism on a rope lowering him to the stage in the "Cone of Light" segment failed, and a seat on what was dubbed the "Lighthouse Slide" stopped abruptly, the lawsuit stated.

In one stunt, according to the lawsuit, Crawford was supposed to mount a mechanically propelled bicycle, but the lights failed and the singer and actor missed the saddle.

The lawsuit concedes that Crawford was "unaware of the nature and extent of the injuries" and continued to perform from the show's opening in March 1995 until his contract was terminated in September 1996, a week after a University of Southern California Hospital doctor diagnosed his hip injuries.

Crawford is seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.