The families of four of the victims from Kobe Bryant’s helicopter crash have filed lawsuits for wrongful death. They followed in the footsteps of Kobe’s widow, Vanessa Bryant, who hit the chopper company with a lawsuit for “reckless” flying.
John Altobelli, his wife Keri, their teenage daughter Alyssa, and Christina Mauser alongside Kobe’s daughter Gianna tragically lost their lives when the helicopter piloted by Ara Zobayan crashed in Calabasas, California on January 26, 2020.
The two families reportedly filed separate but similar lawsuits on the same day at the Los Angeles County Court claiming the company was; “negligent and careless, in regards to owning, leasing, managing, maintaining, controlling, entrusting, chartering, and operating the (helicopter) was the direct, legal and proximate cause, and were a substantial factor in causing, the deaths” of John, Keri, and Alyssa Altobelli and Christina Mauser.
They also went to claim that by “reason of the careless, negligent, and unlawful acts and/or omissions of the defendants, and each of them…and as a direct consequence of the crash — have sustained wrongful death and survival damages, economic and non-economic damages, funeral and burial expenses, and all other damages.”
The suit follows similar action taken in February 2020 by Kobe’s wife, Vanessa Bryant, who filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court claiming that the helicopter shouldn’t have been put in such dangerous conditions before the aircraft’s death plunge killed Kobe, 41, and their daughter, Gianna.
According to the lawsuit, which alleges over two dozen causes of action including wrongful death, Vanessa Bryant alleges that the pilot negligently operated the aircraft, including traveling 180 miles per hour in dangerous weather conditions.
She also claimed Island Express was subject to strict visual flight rules and weather conditions on the day of the tragedy weren’t suitable for flying. It was also alleged that pilot Zobayan had previously been disciplined for violating visual flight rule minimums.