Vanessa Bryant, the widow of NBA legend, Kobe Bryant along with the families of seven others who died in a fatal crash in 2020, have agreed to settle their lawsuit against Island Express Helicopters, Inc., the pilot’s estate, and another company has also agreed to settle the suit.
The Florida News-Times reports that the settlement was filed in a federal court on Tuesday, June 22, 2021. The exact terms of the settlement have not been disclosed.
Vanessa Bryant alleged in her suit that weather conditions were ill-considered because of a low drizzling fog. Those conditions before takeoff and during the flight made it difficult to monitor and evaluate safety.
In February 2020, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released a statement indicating that the helicopter pilot, Ara Zaboyan, had been in violation of visual flight rules. Investigators found that Zaboyan became disoriented in the low-lying clouds and could not see where he was going, thus causing the helicopter crash.
In response, Island Express Helicopters, Inc. filed a lawsuit against two air traffic controllers who were on duty at the time of the crash, alleging “a series of erroneous acts and/or omissions that caused the crash.”
Vanessa Bryant has filed an additional lawsuit against the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office after learning that deputies had taken pictures of the crash site and of victims of the crash and circulated them to members of the public in a bar.
The final settlement of the suit is awaiting approval in federal court.
