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Rosie Perez legally goes after Law & Order production company for past injury

By April MacIntyre May 19, 2011, 15:03 GMT

Rosie Perez - Nickelodeon Mega Music Fest 2010 - Arrivals - Brooklyn Academy of Music, 30 Lafayette Avenue - Brooklyn, NY, USA © Charles Norfleet / PR Photos

Actress Rosie Perez is suing the Law & Order production companies claiming their negligence led to her suffering severe neck injuries that required a discectomy and fusion of several of her vertebrae, according to papers filed in Brooklyn Supreme Court.

Back in 2009, Rosie was cast as the mother of an abused child and was in scene with another actress when an actor playing a passerby grabbed Perez and pulled her off the other woman.

After several takes, the disks in Perez’s neck allegedly became herniated, according to her lawyer Brian O’Dwyer.

NYPost.com reports that the lawsuit accuses Northern Entertainment Productions and DDF Films of "recklessly and carelessly failing to provide skilled performers or experienced stunt personnel" and not rehearsing.

"This is a case of a woman being severely injured because someone wasn’t taking care of the people who work for them – and we’re going to make them pay," O’Dwyer said.

Perez showed off a surgery scar on "Entertainment Tonight" last July, telling the show surgeons cracked open her pelvis to remove bone marrow to place in her neck.

The suit seeks unspecified damages, but O’Dwyer called it a "very, very substantial case," and noted that Perez has been out of work for "quite a while."

Perez has had to turn down work because of this injury.

The Post report claims Perez, who is also a director and a choreographer, continues to have severe pain and reduced motion.

The suit is finding fault with the production companies and not with the actor who injured her.