As mourners gathered at Staples Center on Monday for a memorial service to celebrate the lives of Kobe and Gianna Bryant, attorneys for Vanessa Bryant filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the company that operated the helicopter that crashed last month, killing her husband, daughter and seven others.
The complaint in Los Angeles County Superior Court against Island Express Helicopters and Island Express Holding Corp. alleges that pilot Ara Zobayan, who also died in the crash in Calabasas, failed “to use ordinary care in piloting the subject aircraft” and was negligent.
The lawsuit says the company’s “breach of its duty and negligence” caused injuries and damages and that the death of Bryant was “a direct result of the negligent conduct of Zobayan,” which the company is “vicariously liable in all respects.”
In a complaint obtained by PEOPLE that list Vanessa and her daughters as plaintiffs, Vanessa is suing Island Express Helicopters and claims that pilot Ara Zobayan of Huntington Beach, California, who was piloting the flight at the time of the crash and died, “failed to properly monitor and assess the weather prior to takeoff,” “failed to abort the flight when he knew of the cloudy conditions,” and “failed to properly and safely operate the helicopter resulting in a crash.”
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