Attorneys for Vanessa Bryant have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the company that operated the doomed helicopter that crashed last month, killing her husband, Kobe, and their 13-year-old daughter, Gianna

Attorneys for Vanessa Bryant have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the company that operated the doomed helicopter that crashed last month, killing her husband, Kobe, and their 13-year-old daughter, Gianna. 

The lawsuit that was filed on Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court said pilot, Ara Zobayan, was careless and negligent by flying in cloudy conditions January 26 and should have aborted the flight.

Zobayan was among the nine people killed in the crash.

The lawsuit names Island Express Helicopters Inc and also targets Zobayan’s legal representative, listed only as ‘Doe 1′ until a name can be determined.

Vanessa’s lawsuit asserts that Zobayan was negligent in eight different ways, including failing to properly assess the weather, flying into conditions he wasn’t cleared for and failing to control the helicopter. 

Scroll down for video  

‘Defendant Island Express Helicopters’ breach of its duty and negligence caused the injuries and damages complained of herein and Plaintiffs’ deceased, Kobe Bryant, was killed as a direct result of the negligent conduct of Zobayan for which Defendant Island Express Helicopters is vicariously liable in all respects,’ the lawsuit reads. 

Calls to Island Express seeking comment were not answered and its voicemail was full.

The company issued a statement on January 30 on its website saying the shock of the crash had prompted it to suspend service until it was appropriate for staff and customers.

Bryant, his daughter Gianna, John Altobelli, 56, the baseball coach at Orange Coast College, his wife, Keri Altobelli and their daughter Alyssa Altobelli were killed in the crash on January 26.

Also killed were Christina Mauser, a basketball coach at the nearby Harbor Day School, where Gianna attended, Payton Chester, a middle-school student and Sarah Chester, Payton’s mother.

All of the passengers were on their way to a basketball tournament at Kobe’s Mamba Sports Academy when the helicopter crashed.

Zobayan, Bryant’s frequent pilot, had been trying to navigate in heavy fog that limited visibility to the point that the Los Angeles police and sheriff’s departments had grounded their helicopter fleets.

Under the visual flight rules that Zobayan was following, he was required to see where he was going. 

Zobayan was cited by the Federal Aviation Administration in May 2015 for violating those rules by flying into reduced visibility airspace, the lawsuit said.

In his last transmission, Zobayan told air traffic control that he was climbing to 4,000 feet to get above the clouds. 

He was 100 feet short of breaking through the cloud cover when the helicopter banked left and plunged into a grassy hillside, according to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

The NTSB hasn’t concluded what caused the crash in Calabasas, on the outskirts of Los Angeles County, but said there was no sign of mechanical failure. 

A final report isn’t expected for a year or so.

Island Express has had at least three previous helicopter crashes since 1985, two of them fatal, according to the NTSB’s accident database. 

All involved flights to or from the company’s main destination of Santa Catalina Island, about 20 miles off the Southern California coast. 

The lawsuit was filed as a sold-out public memorial service for Kobe Bryant, his daughter, and all the victims, including Zobayan, was being held at the arena where Bryant played most of his career.

Beyoncé opened the memorial service with passionate performances of her hits XO and Halo.

After her performance, an emotional Jimmy Kimmel took the stage.

He was overcome with emotion as he told the audience members that today was about ‘gratitude’.

Kimmel said that the world could be ‘grateful for the time we had with them’.

The host said sports is unique in that it brings together people from various backgrounds to celebrate something they all love.

Nearly the entire crowd heeded Kimmel’s suggestion that they introduce themselves and shake hands and hug the people next to them.

That was followed by a spontaneous chant of ‘Kobe’. 

He later introduced Vanessa who gave mourners an intimate portrait of the lives of her husband and their daughter.

‘He was my everything,’ she said, recalling meeting Bryant when she was 17 years old.

‘He was the most amazing husband.’ 

She said the world saw Kobe as a celebrity and basketball legend – the Black Mamba – but to her he was her best friend and protector.

‘To my soulmate,’ Vanessa said before describing the NBA legend as a loving husband and xsmn devoted father with a tender heart who was ‘the MVP of girl dads’. 

He loved to watch romantic movies with them and put them to bed every night.  

Vanessa said she and Kobe planned to renew their vows and travel the world together.

They talked about how they looked forward to becoming the ‘cool grandparents’ after their kids have their own children. 

She fought back tears as she described Gianna as a sweet, thoughtful soul who loved kissing her mother good morning and goodnight.

Vanessa said Gianna loved swimming, singing along with hit songs, baking cookies and watching ‘Survivor’ and NBA games with her father.

<div class="art-ins mol-factbox floatRHS news" data-version="2" id="mol-85ced6b0-5740-11ea-9e39-1938bd49a932" website Bryant files wrongful death lawsuit against helicopter company