Helicopter company at centre of fresh Kobe Bryant lawsuits
Family members of four of the eight passengers killed in a helicopter crash with Kobe Bryant and his daughter have joined the NBA star's widow in filing wrongful death lawsuits against the companies that owned and operated the aircraft.
The suits on behalf of three members of one family, and a woman who helped coach Bryant’s 13-year-old daughter in basketball, were filed electronically in Los Angeles Superior Court.
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The pair of lawsuits comes about two months after Bryant's widow, Vanessa, the mother of Gianna, also sued Island Express Helicopters Inc., which operated the Sikorsky, and its owner, Island Express Holding Corp.
A person who answered the phone at Island Express Helicopters declined to comment and an email from The Associated Press requesting comment was not immediately returned.
Unlike Vanessa Bryant's lengthy lawsuit, the new identical seven-page cases do not name the dead pilot, Ara Zobayan, or his representative, as a defendant.
All the suits allege that the two companies were careless and negligent.
One suit was filed by two children of Orange Coast College baseball coach John Altobelli, his wife, Keri, and their daughter Alyssa, who played basketball with Gianna. Another suit was filed by the husband and three children of Christina Mauser, who helped Bryant coach the girls’ basketball team
The group was heading to a basketball tournament on January 26 when the chopper crashed in thick fog northwest of Los Angeles.
An initial National Transportation Safety Board report said there were no signs of engine failure from the wreckage recovered.
Zobayan had nearly navigated the helicopter out of blinding clouds when the aircraft suddenly turned and plunged into the mountainside.
Vanessa Bryant, who filed the suit the same day as her husband's large public memorial service in February, alleged that Zobayan was careless and negligent to fly in the fog and should have aborted the flight.
Also killed in the crash were Sarah Chester and her daughter Payton, who was another of Gianna’s teammates.
Vanessa Bryant marks wedding anniversary with touching tribute
The latest development comes after a heartbreaking social media post from Bryant’s widow Vanessa
Vanessa Bryant has celebrated the 19th anniversary of her wedding to late husband Kobe Bryant with a touching Instagram post.
Vanessa took to Instagram on Saturday with a photo of the couple and a heartbreaking tribute.
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“My king, my heart, my best friend. Happy 19th wedding anniversary,” she wrote.
“I miss you so much. I wish you were here to hold me in your arms. I love you.”
Vanessa and Kobe met in 1999 during a music video shoot, according to NBC News, and had their first date at Disneyland. They got married in 2001.
She shared a second Instagram post on Saturday of an interview Kobe did with MTV in 2001 in which he was asked “What made [Vanessa] the one?”
“It’s hard to pinpoint what exactly makes a person the one for you, but you just know,” Kobe said.
“I mean, love is a funny thing. I can’t explain it, and I don’t understand it.
“But all I know is, she caught my heart. And I just knew that she was the one.”
with Yahoo Sport staff
