Killdeer Ambulance, filmmaker settle lawsuit

The Killdeer Area Ambulance Service has dropped its proposed injunction against a filmmaker who they allege recorded the service in action without permission.
A Wednesday preliminary injunction hearing for producer Todd Melby, the documentarian behind the “Black Gold Boom” series on the oil industry in North Dakota, was canceled after Haylee Cripe, the lawyer for the ambulance service, sent a request to Southwest District Judge Dann Greenwood.
The ambulance service claimed a cameraman working with Melby had filmed a live ambulance response in March without permission and were trying to prevent Melby from using the footage, saying it violated the patient’s privacy rights. Melby argued that the cameraman had obtained permission to film.
Cripe wrote in a letter filed Monday with the Dunn County Court that the two parties “have resolved the matter to their mutual satisfaction.”
Melby’s defense lawyer, Minneapolis-based Mark Anfinson, told The Press that the two sides had reached a settlement that both sides accepted. He could not elaborate on details of the agreement.
“Both sides saw the value of crafting something that benefited both of them and avoided litigation, which is always a good thing,” he said.