Rosie Perez Sues 'Law & Order: SVU' Over Injuries

Rosie Perez is taking legal action against 'Law & Order: SVU' after being injured during her 2009 guest stint.

According to the N.Y. Daily News, Perez was filming a guest role on the hit New York City–based crime drama in September 2009 when a scene called for an extra to forcibly shake her. The violent action caused Perez to suffer a herniated disc which took two surgeries to correct.

"The thing to do was taking someone who knows what he's doing to make it look violent without being violent," said Perez's lawyer Brian O'Dwyer, who filed a lawsuit Wednesday in the Brooklyn Supreme Court. "This person was not a stuntman, he was just an extra."

Perez continued to work on the episode, titled 'Hardwired,' which O'Dwyer said likely caused her injuries to worsen.
"There was pressure on her to continue and finish up the episode and she did," he said.

The lawsuit doesn't mention a specific dollar amount the 'Pineapple Express' actress hopes to get from the lawsuit, but given the severity of her injuries, O'Dwyer expects "very substantial" damages.

Perez underwent two surgeries to correct the problem, including a spinal fusion last summer, just days before she attended a White House ceremony. The actress attended the event in a wheelchair and neck brace.

"She's still suffering severe pain, numbness of the arms, and she'll never be the same despite the surgery," said O'Dwyer, who added that the injuries Perez sustained on the 'Law & Order' set resulted in her loss of work for nearly a year.