Paz De La Huerta's $55m Lawsuit After Ambulance Ran Her Over On Nurse 3D Set

Actress Paz De La Huerta has got the go-ahead from a US court to pursue her $55 million (about £40 million) lawsuit against studio Lionsgate, after she was run over by an ambulance on a movie set.

The ‘Boardwalk Empire’ star was hit by the ambulance when a stunt went wrong on the movie 'Nurse 3D’ in Toronto in 2011, with footage being shown at the hearing.

The 31-year-old suffered a spinal injury and a tailbone fracture in the incident, and says that she’s had to undergo 40 other surgeries since.

She also says that the accident derailed her acting career.

“We’re moving forward, which is great. So I really do hope that justice prevails,” she told the New York Daily News.

“I was hit by a truck going easily 65 miles per hour. I died. I had that experience people talk about. I want justice for all. This shouldn’t be able to happen to anybody.”

Video was shown of the actress being hit by the ambulance, which clipped her and knocked her to the ground.

“As you can see in the video, what happened that night was terrible. It has scarred me both physically and emotionally for many years,” she said.

She added that she is now off the opiate pain-killing drugs needed to get through the pain and surgery.

“Living in pain wasn’t an option, and I didn’t have any familial support, so I spent all my life earnings on my surgeries and everything and it’s time for them to pay,” she said.

She is seeking $2 million per year for loss of earnings, and the rest in damages, claiming that the studio failed to keep her safe on set, and failed to inform her of the stunts in advance, nor obtain her proper consent.

Lionsgate, meanwhile, has filed to have the suit dismissed, claiming that she has already received workers’ compensation benefits.

The 2013 horror movie, which saw De La Huerta playing a homicidal nurse, was a box office bomb, making only $5 million back from its $10 million budget.

Prior to the movie, she was best known as playing gangster’s moll Lucy Danziger in HBO’s 'Boardwalk Empire’, opposite Steve Buscemi, as for her breakout role in 'Cider House Rules’ with Michael Caine in 1999.

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Image credits: Lionsgate/Getty