Helicopter company involved in Kobe Bryant crash hit with 2 new lawsuits

Graham Rapier

April 21, 2020 11:29 PM

Two more families who lost loved ones have sued the helicopter company responsible for the January crash that killed Kobe Bryant and eight others.

Kobe bryant helicopter crash NTSB investigation

The basketball star's widow, Gianna Bryant, filed a similar wrongful death lawsuit in February.
The helicopter was flying in dense fog when it crashed into a hillside northwest of Los Angeles, investigators have said. Their final report is still in the works.
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Two more wrongful death lawsuits were filed Monday against the helicopter company carrying Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna, and eight others that crashed in January, killing everyone on board.

The new suits filed in Los Angeles by surviving family members on behalf of passengers Christina Mauser, and Alyssa, John, and Keri Altobelli echo many of the claims Gianna Bryant, the basketball star's widow, made in her February lawsuit against the operator. The two families are represented by the same attorney, and their complaints are very similar.

They claim the helicopter operator Island Express and its holding company "negligently and carelessly breached their duty to own, lease, manage, maintain, control, entrust, charter, and operate the Subject Helicopter in a reasonable manner," according to court documents.

Island Express, which in January suspended all flights following the crash, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Federal investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board said in a their preliminary report in February that the wreckage exhibited no signs of an engine failure when it impacted a hillside northwest of Los Angeles at about 184 miles per hour amidst dense fog.

Kobe Bryant helicopter flight path NTSB

"Our investigators have already developed a substantial amount of evidence about the circumstances of this tragic crash," Robert Sumwalt, chair of the NTSB, said in a press release in February. "And we are confident that we will be able to determine its cause as well as any factors that contributed to it so we can make safety recommendations to prevent accidents like this from occurring again."

The investigation and lawsuits are ongoing. You can read the complaint below:

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