Vanessa Bryant, the widow of Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant, has filed a lawsuit against Island Express Helicopters and pilot Ara Zobayan’s estate in February, and the lawyer for Zobayan’s estate is speaking out. In a report by the US Sun, the lawyers for Zobayan’s estate said they intend to ask for the trail to be moved outside Los Angeles because they believe the jurors will be biased on Bryant’s status in the community. Bryant, his 13-year old daughter Gianna, and seven other people, including Zobayan, were killed in a helicopter crash on Jan. 26.
“Defendant Zobayan intends to file a motion to transfer venue to a county outside Los Angeles county on the grounds that an impartial jury cannot be empaneled in Los Angeles Superior Court in this matter,” the court documents stated. Vanessa is the only one who is suing the estate. The families of the victims in the crash are suing the helicopter company. A date for the trial has yet to be determined.
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In Vanessa’s lawsuit against the helicopter company, it claims Island Express was only allowed to fly under visual flight rules and the conditions of the day of the crash were not “conducive for such flying.” It also stated that officials disciplined Zobayan in 2015 for flying into airspace with reduced visibility. Lawyers for Berge Zobayan, the brother of Ara Zobayan and successor of the estate, has asked for the lawsuit to be dismissed, stating “any injuries or damages to plaintiffs and/or their decedent were directly caused in full or in part by the negligence or fault of plaintiffs and/or their decedent, including their knowing and voluntary encounter with the risks involved, and that this negligence was a substantial factor in causing their purported damages, for which this answering defendant bears no responsibility.”
Vanessa has expressed her love for Bryant and Gianna on social media the last few months in one post, Vanessa wrote: “My husband worked his a— off for 20 years. Gave it his all. All he wanted was to spend time with our girls and me to make up for lost time. He wanted to be there for every single milestone and special moment in our girls lives. He only got to enjoy 3 years and 9 months of retirement.”
