Actor Junior Pope’s Death; The Legal Responsibilities Of Movie Producers To Ensure The Safety Of Actors.

If a person (an employee) sustains an injury or dies in the process of executing a job, the person who contracts him/her for the job (the employer) will legally be held responsible for the injury sustained or his/her death.

Every Employer/contractor is legally obligated to provide a safe working environment, implement safety protocols, and adhere to occupational health and safety regulations because if an employee dies or sustains an injury due to the employer’s negligence or failure to meet these obligations, the employer will be deemed to be responsible for the death of the employee.

In the sad news of yesterday, Junior Pope and actors/ crew members met their untimely demise on their way to a movie set. The producer of the movie will be deemed in law to be responsible for the death of those actors because of the producer’s negligence or failure to ensure and implement safety compliance and protocol.

Going forward, The Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN) should set up strict regulatory safety measures/standards that must be complied with by producers, actors & crew members, with stern punishments for defaulters so as to ensure the safety of their members.

The conclusion of the matter is that you should have “a will” so as to legally protect the future of those you care about, especially your immediate family members in the event of your untimely death because death as we have come to know, does not give notice.

The importance of a will is to name beneficiaries to your assets including your liquid cash in the bank in the event of your death.
You should take into consideration that naming your wife/husband/children/ parents as your next of kin in your bank documents or in your bank account does not mean anything. A next of kin as courts have held in a plethora of cases cannot have access to the money in your bank account in the event of your death. In fact, banks always refuse to release the money to a next of kin in the event of the death of the account holder unless there is a will granting the money in the account to the person or naming the person as a beneficiary to the account.

Many people with fat bank accounts who died intestate left their families destitute. You
should make a will and name the person who will inherit the bank account at your death or
fill out a bank form called “Payable On
Death (POD) or Transfer On Death”, where you will name the beneficiary of the bank account at the event of your death because if you die without a will or filing the POD/ TOD form, the money in the account will not be
released to your next of kin, rather it could be taken over by the bank.

“Death be not proud, though some have called thee

Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;

For those whom thou think’st thou dost overthrow

Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.

From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,

Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow,

And soonest our best men with thee do go,

Rest of their bones, and soul’s delivery…”

(Excerpt from the Poem, “Death Be Not Proud” by John Donne, 1633).

Stan Alieke, Esq.
11/4/2014
Abuja, Nigeria.