Kobe Bryant’s wife, Vanessa, filed a lawsuit Monday against the company that owned the helicopter that crashed last month, causing the death of her husband, 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, and the seven other people. Mrs. Bryant claims in the lawsuit that the pilot failed to abort the flight even though he knew of cloudy conditions. The suit also says Zobayan flew the helicopter into conditions in which he couldn’t visibly navigate using visual references, forcing him to use instrument flight rules (IFR), and failed to avoid or keep a safe distance between the aircraft and obstacles in the flight path. Zobayan was previously disciplined in 2015 for violating federal flight rules and received counseling. He was also flying for Island Express Helicopters at the time. The lawsuit also claims the helicopter was not safe, although it doesn’t say what was unsafe. It could be the basis for the claim is that the helicopter was not certified to fly in bad weather. The lawsuit does not list an amount of damages sought, but Vanessa is asking for punitive damages, claiming the pilot and Island Express were reckless, and the damages could be untold millions. The suit seeks damages for loss of love, affection, care, society, service, comfort, support, right to support, companionship, solace or moral support and expectations of future support and counseling. The suit also seeks money for loss of financial support and for burial and funeral expenses. Island Express, which has reportedly experienced three other helicopter crashes since 1985, temporarily suspended operations in the week following the latest crash.
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