Actor Tom McKay today went and started a legal feud with the Hatfields & McCoys. In a reckless misconduct and breach of contract suit (read it here) filed Friday in LA Superior Court, McKay is going after the producers of the blockbuster 2012 History Channel miniseries and their insurance companies for injuries he sustained after being thrown from a horse on set. The incident occurred on November 11, 2011 "when the subject horse became uncontrollable again during 
filming of a scene, bolted, and subsequently threw Plaintiff into a tree, resulting in serious and permanent injuries and harm to Plaintiff." The seasoned actor is seeking unspecified damages for suffering and anguish, medical costs and loss of earnings and earnings capacity. And he wants to make an additional monetary point too. "The reckless, careless, callous, and oppressive acts of defendants, and each of them, as set forth herein-above, are sufficient to warrant the imposition of punitive and exemplary damages against said defendants in an amount sufficient to punish and make an example of them. The exact amount of such damages are presently unknown to Plaintiff, but will be subject to proof at trial," the 38-page, 8-claim complaint adds. McKay is also seeking interest, legal costs and a declaration from the court that OneBeacon America Insurance Company and Ace USA are liable under the insurance policy the production had with them for all benefits due to him and for all and any damages claimed by him.
McKay played Jim McCoy on the miniseries that ran over three nights at the end of May 2012. He is also seen on the Starz/BBC series The White Queen. Hatfields & McCoys star and producer Kevin Costner is not named as a defendant nor mentioned in the suit but several others high up in the production are including director Kevin Reynolds and EP Leslie Grief. The defendants formally named are Hatfields & McCoys Productions, ThinkFactory Media, OneBeacon America Insurance Company and Ace USA.
In the detailed filing, McKay is claiming unsafe conditions on the Romanian set, as well as knowing violent mistreatment of the horses used by the production by improperly trained handlers. He also alleges "Defendants, by and through their authorized managing agents, including Leslie Grief, Kevin Reynolds, Chris Landry, and Razvan Piu, and other of defendant’s managing officers/agents, intentionally misrepresented to Plaintiff that their horses were safe, well behaved, and were suitable for riding by Plaintiff." Additionally, the suit centers on the sudden halt this summer of insurance payments for his medical expenses. A halt that McKay says is the result partially of misrepresentation by the producers. In a case this clear and simulataniously complex, expect the production companies to try to throw it all on the insurance companies – also expect this to drag way longer than the war between the two clans ever did.
Sean Novak of Beverly Hills' The Novak Law Firm represents Thomas McKay
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