The Blast: Vanessa Bryant Seeks Hundreds of Millions in Damages after Kobe and Gigi's Deaths
Vanessa Bryant filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the helicopter company and pilot's estate, claiming Kobe and Gianna Bryant's deaths cost their family 'hundreds of millions' of dollars in future earnings.
Almost five months after the deaths of Kobe and Gianna Bryant, family matriarch Vanessa is seeking justice. In her wrongful death lawsuit against the helicopter company and pilot's estate, she seeks monetary compensation for economic, non-economic, prejudgment interest, and punitive damages.
On top of the damages they experienced following the deaths of her husband and daughter, Vanessa specifically noted that their deaths also made them lose hundreds of millions of dollars in future earnings. She also made it clear that those at fault are the helicopter company and the pilot.
Kobe Bryant #24 of the Los Angeles Lakers at US Airways Center on February 19, 2012 | Photo: Getty Images
PINNING ARA ZOBAYAN
In the same lawsuit, Bryant accuses the pilot of opting to fly during poor weather conditions. She added that it was the company's negligence that allowed the flight to happen, especially since the pilot, Ara Zobayan, already had weather-related flight violations as early as 2015.
Despite battling it out in court, Vanessa Bryant recently shared her appreciation to members of the LA community for keeping Kobe's murals untouched amid the George Floyd protests.
A TRAGIC ACCIDENT
Earlier this year, the wrongful death lawsuit they filed also accused Zobayan of failing to monitor and assess weather conditions prior to the flight and failing to abort the flight after realizing the cloudy conditions. Well aware of the lawsuit, Island Express Helicopters deemed it a "tragic accident" and made no comments on the ongoing case.
A screenshot of Vanessa Bryant's Instagram story of GiGi and Kobe's untouched murals | Source: Instagram/vanessabryant
Despite battling it out in court, Vanessa Bryant recently shared her appreciation to members of the LA community for keeping Kobe's murals untouched amid the George Floyd protests. Vanessa shared pictures of the untouched murals, one of them still standing strong despite being on the side of a building that was on fire.
A screenshot of Vanessa Bryant's story on Kobe and Gianna's Murals | Source: Instagram/vanessabryant
Vanessa has also been vocal about the reforms that people have been demanding, encouraging people to spread love, fight for change, and register to vote. Since posting these, and since news of the wrongful death lawsuit came to light, she's switched her Instagram account to private.