January 26th, 2020 will forever be a day remembered when it was reported that Kobe Bryant tragically lost his life in a helicopter crash on a hillside in Calabasas, California. The news became even worse when it was reported that his 13-year-old daughter Gianna was also on board that flight.
It proceeded to get even more tragic when confirmation came in that seven other passengers were also aboard that doomed helicopter.
Back in February, Vanessa Bryant sued the owner of the helicopter, stating the pilot was careless and negligent by flying in cloudy conditions and should have aborted the flight that killed all nine people aboard. The lawsuit names Island Express Helicopters Inc. and also targets pilot Ara Zobayan’s representative or successor, listed only as “Doe 1” until a name can be determined.
Fast forward to April and now the families of four of the victims who perished in the helicopter crash have now filed a wrongful death lawsuit as well, according to TMZ.
“The surviving members of the Altobelli family and Mauser family — the remaining two Altobelli children and Christina Mauser’s husband, her son and 2 daughters, respectively — claim the Island Express’s negligence was reason for the death of their loved ones.
In both suits — obtained by TMZ — the surviving family members claim Island Express negligently and carelessly breached its duty to own, lease, manage, maintain, control, entrust, charter and operate the helicopter in question in a reasonable manner.
They claim as a direct result of this negligent behavior by the company, their loved ones died in the crash — which has caused an insurmountable amount of anguish on every level — physical, emotional, mental and otherwise … for which the families want damages, both over their own turmoil, but also for what their loved ones could have earned themselves if they had survived the crash and continued to work.”
On that same day that Kobe’s helicopter took off for a basketball game, LAPD had grounded its fleet of helicopters on that same morning due to bad weather.
