Less than one week after a deadly fire destroyed a NYC apartment building, a couple is suing Edward Norton’s production company for damages. The actor’s company, Class 5 productions, was shooting a movie in the building when a fire broke out on March 22.

Erica and George Cruz, who are suing for $7 million after losing everything in the blaze, claim in their lawsuit that Edward’s company “maintained certain equipment, including highly flammable equipment in the basement.” According to The Blast, the couple also alleges that the company “did not warn the tenants in the building; in fact, they misled the tenants into believing there had been a fire that had been extinguished.”

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Many of you know that the crew of our film ‘Motherless Brooklyn’ experienced a dramatic and ultimately tragic event on Thursday night, in which a fire engulfed the building we were working in and an FDNY firefighter died fighting the blaze. Thanks to the many, many people who have written to us supportively. Our team’s formal statement on the event is here in the slideshow. It has been reported in some news outlets that the fire ‘started on the set’. This is incorrect. It appears to have started in the basement cellar of the building we were working in. We were filming in a bar and an apartment within the building and our crew noticed smoke rising up into where we were working. It has been reported that I was the one who smelled smoke and raised an alarm. This is incorrect. I was outside setting up a shot outside the building. Our fantastic 1st AD was the first to notice the smell of smoke before anyone even saw it and it was he and others on the crew who acted decisively and quickly to try to locate the source of the smoke, evacuate cast and crew, call the fire department and then rapidly move our equipment and vehicles away so that the FDNY had clear access. I cannot praise the professionalism of our crew highly enough. Had our team not noticed the situation and responded and alerted the fire department with the speed they did, I believe the residents of the building above would have perished. And though we described what we saw the FDNY do in our statement and articulated our feelings, it’s worth doubling down. I have never witnessed firsthand that kind of bravery. I’m in awe of that kind of selfless courage. It’s devastating to contemplate that one of the men we watched charging in there lost his life. Please send a prayer of thanks for the spirit and courage of Michael Davidson. Our team is committed to honoring him and assisting his family and, in due course, when we can determine with his family what form they’d like that to take, I’ll pass along any information I have about a verified way people can contribute.

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One firefighter died as a result of the fire, which took place in Harlem. Edward released a statement and revealed the crew was not filming in the basement at the time and denied he was the first to raise the alarm. “Many of you know that the crew of our film Motherless Brooklyn experienced a dramatic and ultimately tragic event on Thursday night, in which a fire engulfed the building we were working in and an FDNY firefighter died fighting the blaze,” he wrote on Instagram. “I cannot praise the professionalism of our crew highly enough. Had our team not noticed the situation and responded and alerted the fire department with the speed they did, I believe the residents of the building above would have perished.”

He continued, “I’m in awe of that kind of selfless courage. It’s devastating to contemplate that one of the men we watched charging in there lost his life. Please send a prayer of thanks for the spirit and courage of Michael Davidson.”

edward norton bruce willis

Edward and Bruce on set on Feb. 6.

The film, Motherless in Brooklyn stars Edward as Lionel Essrog, a lonely private detective with Tourette’s Syndrome, who tries to solve the murder of his friend Frank Minna, who is played by Bruce Willis. The movie also features Bobby Cannavale, Alec Baldwin, and Leslie Mann.

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