Vanessa Bryant & Other Crash Victim Families Settle Lawsuit Versus Helicopter Company

Vanessa Bryant and the relatives of other victims killed in the disaster finalized their case on Tuesday, according to the Los Angeles Times and USA Today. The terms of the settlement have not been publicly disclosed.

About a month after the disaster, Bryant and the families of the other casualties filed a lawsuit against Island Express Helicopters and pilot Ara Zobayan.

The National Transportation Safety Board published earlier this year that Zobayan’s actions were most likely to blame for the January 2020 disaster. According to USA Today, Vanessa Bryant claimed in her complaint that Zobayan “failed to abort the flight when he knew of cloudy conditions” and “failed to abort the flight when he knew of cloudy conditions” among other alleged errors.

According to reports, the helicopter company has had three other accidents since 1985. In 2015, the Federal Aviation Administration cited Zobayan for breaching visual flight rule minimums.

Meanwhile, Vanessa Bryant is battling Los Angeles County in a separate court dispute over accusations that first responders exchanged photographs of the crash and bodies. She revealed the identities of the deputies suspected of capturing and exchanging photos in March.