One lawsuit down, one more to go.
Vanessa Bryant, the widow of Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant, has reportedly settled the lawsuit with the company whose helicopter crash killed her husband and daughter, Gianna.
Now Bryant will move on to exacting some retribution from the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department whose deputies took and shared photos of the crash scene, including the bodies.
In legal documents obtained by The Blast, Vanessa Bryant entered into a confidential settlement with Island Express Helicopters. Her husband, 41, and 13-year-old daughter “Gigi” were riding in fog-filled skies with seven others on Jan. 26, 2020, when the chopper crashed into the mountains in Calabasas, California, a distant suburb of Los Angeles.
The publication notes the parties filed a “joint notice of settlement and joint request to vacate discovery deadlines.”
A judge is expected to perform the perfunctory duty and sign off on the agreement.
“Plaintiffs and Defendants jointly report that they have agreed to settle their claims in the above-entitled action,” the documents state.
The legal docs also read that “Island Express Helicopters authorized, directed and/or permitted a flight with full knowledge that the subject helicopter was flying into unsafe weather conditions.” The pilot, Ara Zobayan, failed to “use ordinary care in piloting the subject aircraft” and her husband and daughter perished “as a direct result of the negligent conduct of Zobayan” for which “the company is vicariously liable in all respects.”
Industry observers and pundits guesstimate the settlement is in the millions since Bryant was also suing for the loss of future income potential of Kobe and Gigi Bryant.
