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Less than one week after a deadly fire destroyed a NYC apartment building, a couple is suing Edward Norton’s production company for damages. The actor’s company, Class 5 productions, was shooting a movie in the building when a fire broke out on March 22.
Erica and George Cruz, who are suing for $7 million after losing everything in the blaze, claim in their lawsuit that Edward’s company “maintained certain equipment, including highly flammable equipment in the basement.” According to The Blast, the couple also alleges that the company “did not warn the tenants in the building; in fact, they misled the tenants into believing there had been a fire that had been extinguished.”
One firefighter died as a result of the fire, which took place in Harlem. Edward released a statement and revealed the crew was not filming in the basement at the time and denied he was the first to raise the alarm. “Many of you know that the crew of our film Motherless Brooklyn experienced a dramatic and ultimately tragic event on Thursday night, in which a fire engulfed the building we were working in and an FDNY firefighter died fighting the blaze,” he wrote on Instagram. “I cannot praise the professionalism of our crew highly enough. Had our team not noticed the situation and responded and alerted the fire department with the speed they did, I believe the residents of the building above would have perished.”
He continued, “I’m in awe of that kind of selfless courage. It’s devastating to contemplate that one of the men we watched charging in there lost his life. Please send a prayer of thanks for the spirit and courage of Michael Davidson.”
The film, Motherless in Brooklyn stars Edward as Lionel Essrog, a lonely private detective with Tourette’s Syndrome, who tries to solve the murder of his friend Frank Minna, who is played by Bruce Willis. The movie also features Bobby Cannavale, Alec Baldwin, and Leslie Mann.
This article originally appeared on In Touch Weekly
