Lawsuit bombshell shakes Kobe Bryant memorial service
The widow of sporting star Kobe Bryant has sued the owner of the helicopter that crashed amidst fog and killed the former Los Angeles Lakers player, their 13-year-old daughter and seven other people aboard.
Vanessa Bryant announced the wrongful death lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court and first said on Tuesday in an emotional public ceremony amidst hundreds of sporting legends and musical artists that she would be going ahead with the suit.
The lawsuit says the pilot was carelessly negligent by flying in cloudy weather conditions on January 26 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.
It claims Zobayan was negligent in eight ways, including failing to correctly assess the weather, flying into conditions he wasn’t cleared for and failing to control the helicopter.
Ara Zaboyan,50 was flying Bryant, 41, and his daughter Gianna, 13, along with Payton Chester, 13; Sarah Chester, 45; Alyssa Altobelli, 14; Keri Altobelli, 46; John Altobelli, 56; and Christina Mauser, 38 when it crashed and killed them.
The lawsuit was filed the morning of the public memorial service for Kobe Bryant and the rest of the lives taken in the crash, including Zobayan.
It was held at a sold-out crowd at Staples Center, an arena Bryant spent most of his career making memorable highlights in the NBA and achievements not many other sporting stars can claim.
Zobayan was Bryant’s frequent pilot and had been attempting to navigate in heavy fog that limited visibility to the point that the Los Angeles police and sheriff’s departments had even grounded their helicopter fleets.
Under the visual flight rules that Zobayan was following, he was supposed to be able to see exactly where he was going.
Zobayan was cited by the Federal Aviation Administration in May 2015 for violating those rules by flying into reduced visibility airspace, the lawsuit said.
In his last transmission, Zobayan had told air traffic control he was climbing to 1219m, strictly to get above the clouds.
He was just 30m short of breaking through the cloud cover when the helicopter banked left and plunged into a hillside, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.
While there is no final conclusion on what caused the crash in Calabasas, there is said to be no sign of a mechanical failure.
However, a final report will not be expected for a full year or so.