Executive producer Joel Silver has been named in a wrongful death lawsuit linked to the 2015 drowning of his assistant, Carmel Musgrove. The drowning occurred at a resort in Bora Bora during a star-filled party on an exclusive resort.
Silver and Martin Herold are both named in the lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles County on January 18. Herold is a personal chef who worked for Silver at the time of the incident.
Musgrove’s father, Ronald Musgrove, filed the wrongful death lawsuit.
Musgrove was in Bora Bora to attend the honeymoon for stars Justin Theroux and Jennifer Aniston, who were newly married at the time. Silver and his family members also attended the event.
Silver allegedly provided Musgrove with large amounts of alcohol, leading to her suffering a heat stroke during a fishing trip on the last day of the event. Musgrove attended lunch and dinner with Silver, who provided alcohol to his assistant. She went back to Herold’s bungalow and drank more, according to report, before ingesting drugs.
The last time anyone saw her alive was when she spoke to a hotel clerk to ask for matches. Her nude body was found floating in a lagoon just 500 yards from the bungalow. Investigators blame her death on drugs, alcohol, weather conditions and fatigue.
Staff spent more than a day searching for Musgrove before they found her body. Her body showed no signs of trauma.
Records from the hotel show that Musgrove used her keycard to enter her villa at 11:11pm. The staff report that she remained hidden behind her door when they delivered matches to her room. She reportedly only exposed her head and hand and would not open the hotel door completely.
Musgrove’s father claims in the lawsuit that Silver created work conditions that may have led to his daughter’s exhaustion, fatigue and death. Herold is accused of providing the assistant with drugs, which also attributed to the death. The family claims that the defendants are responsible for four out of five of the factors leading to Musgrove’s death.
The parents of Musgrove are seeking damages for emotional, economic, personal and logistics relating to their daughter’s death. Silver has yet to respond publicly to the lawsuit.
Silver Pictures, Silver’s company, is named in the lawsuit. Musgrove, 28 at the time of her death, had been in Bora Bora for weeks attending events for work. She stayed at the Four Seasons Hotel, with over 40 bungalows being part of the event.
