OC families sue helicopter company over deadly Kobe Bryant crash
Two Orange County families who lost loved ones in the helicopter crash that also claimed the lives of Laker legend Kobe Bryant and one of his daughters have filed wrongful-death lawsuits against the company that operated the aircraft.
The suits against Long Beach-based Island Express Helicopters and it’s holding company were filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Friday on behalf of the surviving family members of Orange Coast College baseball coach John Altobelli, his wife, Keri, and their basketball-playing daughter Alyssa, as well as Mamba Academy basketball coach Christina Mauser.
The wrongful-death lawsuits allege unspecified negligence on the part of the helicopter company. Both lawsuits were filed by attorneys with the same Los Angeles law firm and seek unspecified monetary damages.
One of the lawsuits was filed on behalf of a surviving son and daughter of the Altobellis. The other is on behalf of the husband and three children of Mauser.
The lawsuits, which are virtually identical, do not outline what allegedly negligent actions on the part of the helicopter company were believed to have led to the crash that killed the pilot and eight passengers.
A spokesman for Island Express declined to comment, citing a policy not to discuss pending litigation.
The lawsuits come two months after Kobe Bryant’s widow, Vanessa Bryant, filed her own lawsuit against Island Express. That lawsuit also named the dead pilot, Ara Zobayan, alleging he acted carelessly by flying in cloudy conditions and should have instead aborted the flight.
The helicopter was traveling from John Wayne Airport in Orange County to a tournament at Bryant’s youth facility in Thousand Oaks when it hit the foothills of the Santa Monica mountains in Calabasas and caught fire, killing everyone on board.
A preliminary review of the Jan. 26 crash by the National Transportation Safety Board found no evidence of engine failure but cited the presence of dense fog in the area that morning. A full review of the crash could take the NTSB more than a year to complete.
Along with Kobe and Gianna Bryant, Mauser, John, Keri and Alyssa Altobelli and Zobayan, the crash also killed Sarah Chester and daughter Payton.