Alec Baldwin Didn’t Have to Pay to Settle $25 Million Lawsuit Filed by Murdered Marine’s Family

CHEYENNE, Wyoming — Alec Baldwin did not have to pay anything to settle a $25 million lawsuit filed by family members of a Marine killed in Afghanistan after the actor criticized them on social media for the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, Baldwin’s lawyer said. January 6, 2021

Southern District of New York Judge Edgardo Ramos in August dismissed a lawsuit filed by the wife and sisters of Corporal Rylee McCollum of Jackson, Wyoming. When the McCollum family did not file an amended lawsuit, which Ramos was invited to do before the September deadline, the judge closed the case in October.

Baldwin paid nothing to resolve the case, his attorney Luke Nikas said Wednesday in an email to The Associated Press.

According to court documents, the case has not been active since then. Attorneys for both sides, including McCollum family attorney Dennis Postiglione, had no comment when contacted by email Thursday. Contacted by email Wednesday, Postiglione declined to comment and said the McCollum family would not comment on the case.

Rylee McCollum and 12 other Marines were killed in a suicide bombing at Kabul airport in the final days of the US war in Afghanistan in 2021. Baldwin sent the family a check for $5,000 to help them through this tragedy.

The lawsuit, initially filed in Wyoming and then New York, alleged that Baldwin subjected his family to a flood of social media hate in 2022 by claiming on Instagram that Roice McCollum was an “insurrectionist” for attending former President Donald Trump’s conference January 6, 2021, a rally in Washington, D.C. leading up to the insurrection that day.

The lawsuit says Roice McCollum protested peacefully and legally, was not among those who stormed the U.S. Capitol, and was never arrested or charged after being questioned by the FBI.

Still, she was a “restricted public figure” under the law because she spoke about her brother’s death in the media and interacted with Baldwin, a celebrity, on social media. Ramos ruled to dismiss the lawsuit.

To prove that she was a retarded person, McCollum had to show that Baldwin had acted maliciously towards her. She didn’t do so, so Baldwin’s comments were protected under his free speech rights, Ramos ruled.

The lawsuit was filed because Baldwin faced legal risk over the death of a cinematographer on the film, which is set in New Mexico in 2021. Baldwin was aiming his gun when it exploded, killing Halyna Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza.

Special prosecutors initially dismissed the manslaughter charge against Baldwin, but are now seeking new charges against the actor after new information was presented to a grand jury.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Marine family’s lawsuit against Alec Baldwin dismissed, actor won’t pay