Calif. woman sues over 'Jackass' stunt
LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) --A woman has sued cable TV network MTV, its parent company Viacom Inc., and a cast member of its daredevil show "Jackass," claiming she suffered injuries in a stunt performed while taping a program.
In the suit filed Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court, Wendy Linden of Riverside, California alleges she suffered spine and knee injuries after cast member David England ran across a stage and "using his body as a missile" crashed into a lectern near Linden.
The lectern hit Linden and knocked her to the concrete floor causing the injuries, according to the suit.
Linden's attorney, Los Angeles-based Eric Yuhl, said Linden has had surgery for a herniated disc and her knee injuries could be symptomatic of nerve damage. He said she also suffers post traumatic stress syndrome.
An MTV spokeswoman declined to comment. England could not be immediately reached for comment.
"Jackass" aired on MTV in 2000 and 2001 and has since been canceled. The show in which Linden claims she was injured was for a special based on "Jackass" that was taped April 21 but never aired.
The lawsuit comes only one week before MTV and Viacom's movie studio Paramount Pictures release "Jackass: The Movie" in U.S. theaters.
Yuhl said he has been negotiating with MTV and Viacom for the past several months to gain access to the tape of the show, but had been unable to do so, leading to the lawsuit's filing this week.
In her suit, Linden claims she was recruited to be part of the show and was told by the producers that she would not be touched by the cast or exposed to any hazardous activities.
The suit also alleges cast members, including star Johnny Knoxville, were given alcohol by the producers, which led to a "hostile, volatile and out-of-control" environment.
Linden was to question the cast from the audience, but just as she began, England made his move. She alleges England's actions were "planned and orchestrated" and he had taken "practice runs" before the show.
"MTV and Viacom have an absolute, demonstrable, provable record of this kind of behavior," Yuhl said.
"Jackass" gained a loyal fan base on the youth-oriented MTV channel because it pushed the envelope for absurd behavior, but some stunts proved controversial.
In 2001, Knoxville donned a fireproof suit covered in steaks and was set on fire to become a human barbecue. A teenager who saw the stunt tried the same thing and landed in the hospital with severely burned hands, legs and back.
The show aired a disclaimer warning people not to try the daredevil tricks on their own. "Jackass" has sparked similar shows like MTV's "Dude, This Sucks," which was sued last year by two 14-year-old girls who claimed they were sprayed with human excrement during a taping of the program. MTV later apologized to the girls.
In April, a Washington D.C. couple, James and Laurie Ann Ryan, sued MTV after they were surprised on their vacation by a blood-soaked, fake corpse hidden inside their Las Vegas hotel room. It was part of a hidden-camera prank for a TV show called "Harassment" that was then in development.
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