A wrongful death lawsuit is filed against a Las Vegas Strip property for allegedly failing to perform lifesaving intervention on Hallmark actor, Michael Heslin after suffering a medical emergency inside one of its restaurants.
A lawsuit has alleged that a Hallmark star’s sudden death could’ve been averted after staff at a Las Vegas restaurant were told to stop performing CPR on the actor after suffering a sudden heart attack and ‘collapsing’ while dining with his husband and friends.
Michael Heslin, 35, who starred in “Lioness” and the TV movie “The Holiday Plan” suffered the medical emergency in June 2024, with the filed suit alleging restaurant staff failed to perform any life-saving measures, according to a new wrongful death lawsuit filed by his husband, Nicolas Wilson on Sept. 18.
Is Las Vegas restaurant to blame for preventing a Hallmark actor’s sudden death?
Staff at ‘Aria and Javier’s’, a high-end Mexican restaurant on the strip allegedly ‘forcefully interfered’ to stop a female diner from performing potentially life-saving CPR, despite Heslin ‘exhibiting obvious signs of a medical emergency,’ according to the lawsuit seen by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Restaurant staff also allegedly failed to retrieve an automated external defibrillator (AED) on hand at the premises the suit alleges.
Heslin’s friends, meanwhile, were ‘forcefully removed’ from the building as the Hallmark actor was dying, the suit claims.
Heslin’s friends attempted to record the incident, but were confronted by employees who ‘demanded’ any videos be deleted, alleges the lawsuit.
‘Michael’s death was an avoidable tragedy,’ stated the lawsuit. ‘Defendant’s failures, individually and cumulatively, proximately caused or substantially contributed to Michael’s preventable death.’
Wrongful death lawsuit alleges negligence
Heslin died on July 2, 2024. A cause of death is not listed in the lawsuit.
The lawsuit alleges five counts of wrongful death; loss of consortium; negligence; negligent hiring, retention, supervision and training; as well as gross negligence.
Wilson is asking for general and special damages in an amount in excess of $15,000; funeral expenses; loss of consortium in excess of $15,000; punitive damages; reasonable attorney’s fees and costs; interest; and such other relief as the court deems just and proper.
MGM Resorts International, which operates Aria, has to date declined to respond to media overtures for comment.
