A brother of the pilot at the center of the Kobe Bryant crash says the NBA star accepted the risks of flying in a helicopter, so his family has no right to money from the pilot’s estate.
Berge Zobayan argues in an answer to Vanessa Bryant’s wrongful death lawsuit that
pilot Ara Zobayan “bears no responsibility” for the high-speed helicopter crash that killed Bryant, 41, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and six others on a morning of blinding fog last January.
“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,” the new paperwork filed Friday states.
“This negligence was a substantial factor in causing their purported damages, for which this answering defendant bears no responsibility,” the filing argues.
The brother further argues that “any injuries or damages to plaintiffs and/or their decedent were directly caused in full or in part by the negligence, fault or wrongful conduct of third parties, whom this answering defendant neither controlled nor had the right to control.”
Vanessa Bryant filed her wrongful death claim in February, naming Zobayan and the helicopter company who owned the chopper, Island Express, as defendants.
The lawsuit alleged that Island Express was only certified to fly under visual flight rules, meaning with adequate visibility, and that foggy conditions the day of the tragedy should have grounded the chopper before it slammed into a hillside in Calabasas, Calif.
Island Express had not yet answered the complaint as of Monday morning, according to an online docket.
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