There are two quotes from the LATimes Article that outline why there is a lawsuit:
1. The cross-complaint by Island Express accuses one of the controllers of not properly terminating radar services, leading the pilot to believe “he was still being surveilled and being provided flight following” and that air traffic controllers “would have warned him of unsafe proximity to terrain.”
2. “Had [the controllers] not engaged in the numerous negligent acts and/or omissions stated herein, then the Pilot [Ara Zobayan] would not have been forced to respond to multiple [air traffic control] requests and commands during the most critical phase of the flight,” the cross-complaint said.
On the surface It seems like a money grab and a deflection of responsibility by the helicopter company. Again, I’ll have to go back and listen to the tapes to Jog my memory on The sequence of events. Just based on what is stated above it stands to reason the controllers had lost radar contact on the aircraft and were trying to re-establish it, but couldn’t because he was too low. When he tried to climb above the clouds so they could establish radar contact he got disoriented in a cloud layer. Long story short he should’ve never departed VFR, and clearly SVFR was marginal at best. He should’ve departed IFR, but if the company didn’t allow it he should’ve told Kobe to take a limo. And Am I the only one who believes Vanessa Bryant filing a wrongful death lawsuit against the estate of the pilot is bullshit? First his family had to deal with his death, now they get to deal with a multi-millionaire suing their family because of it.