As a memorial was being held in remembrance of her husband, soon-to-be Hall of Famer Kobe Bryant, their daughter Gianna, and seven others that perished in a helicopter crash, Vanessa Bryant‘s lawyers were filing a lawsuit against the fallen aircraft’s company.
Photo Credit: www.shutterstock.com
Kobe, Gianna, and seven others including the pilot died at the crash on Sunday, January 26th, as they were flying on a foggy Los Angeles morning to a youth basketball game at Mamba Sports Academy in Thousand Oaks. The helicopter was a 1991 Sikorsky S-76B model.
Bryant submitted a 72-page complaint against Island Express Holding Corp. and Island Express Helicopters, Inc., to the Los Angeles County Superior Court on Monday. The court will conclude if to file it after reviewing it.
Per the lawsuit, Island Express Helicopters, “authorized, directed and/or permitted a flight with full knowledge that the subject helicopter was flying into unsafe weather conditions.” It also states that the pilot, Ara Zobayan, did not “use ordinary care in piloting the subject aircraft.” The company’s lawyer, Teri Neville, issued a short statement in an email, “This was a tragic accident.”
Bryant’s lawyers are Munger, Tolles & Olson and the Kansas City-based Robb & Robb, a law firm specializing in helicopter wrecks. They included 27 counts in the filing, which includes Zobayan’s estate as one of the defendants. It seeks punitive and compensatory damages, though an amount is not specified.
The complaint is heavily-worded in blaming the company and its pilot, stating that Kobe died “as a direct result of the negligent conduct of Zobayan,” and that, “the company is vicariously liable in all respects.”
Zobayan, the company’s main pilot who had flown Kobe on multiple occasions, was cited in 2015 by the Federal Aviation Administration for not complying with visual flight rules minimums.
The lawsuit accuses Zobayan, Bryant’s longtime pilot, of several acts of negligence including failing to abort the flight, failing to monitor and assess the weather, and failure to keep a safe distance between natural obstacles and the helicopter.
The complaint continues, stating that the company, “employed Defendant Zobayan with conscious disregard of the rights or safety of others and authorized or ratified his wrong conduct, and itself engaged in conduct with malice, oppression, or fraud.”
For more stories visit, www.hauteliving.com/hautelawyer.
Reference: LA Times
Legal News
February 24, 2020Harvey Weinstein Convicted, Expected To Appeal Ruling In #MeToo
