Vanessa Bryant Settles Wrongful Death Lawsuit Over Kobe Bryant Helicopter Crash

Vanessa Bryant and her children have settled a lawsuit against the helicopter operator of the flight that killed Kobe Bryant in 2020. Successors of six of the other victims also agreed on the terms.

Kobe Bryant‘s family is closing one chapter in the aftermath of his fatal crash, by reaching a settlement agreement with the helicopter company that operated his flight.

His widow, Vanessa Bryant, and families of other victims agreed on a confidential settlement on Tuesday, June 22, according to the court notice obtained by E! News. 

“Plaintiffs and Defendants jointly report that they have agreed to settle their claims,” reads the notice. “The material terms of the settlement and releases are known to the settling parties and include that the terms of the settlement are confidential.” 

They are finalizing the settlement documents and will request that the California judge approve the agreement.

Defendants Island Express Helicopters and Island Express Holding Corp, along with the successor of pilot Ara Zobayan, all agreed to settle. 

Last year, Vanessa sued them for the wrongful death of her husband Kobe, 41, and daughter Gianna, 13, after they were killed in a January 2020 helicopter crash in Calabasas, Calif., along with seven other people. Her surviving children Natalia, 18, Bianka, 4, and Capri, 2, were also plaintiffs in the lawsuit. 

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Kobe Bryant: Life in Photos

In addition to Kobe, Gianna and Ara, the helicopter accident killed passengers Christina Mauser; Alyssa, John and Keri Altobelli; and Payton and Sarah Chester.

Successors John James Altobelli, Alexis Altobelli, Christopher Chester, Matthew Mauser and multiple minors were also listed as plaintiffs and agreed to the settlement arrangement, the terms of which were not disclosed. 

Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images

Vanessa’s lawsuit accused the pilot of failing to properly monitor and assess the weather prior to takeoff, as well as failing to abort the flight when he knew of the cloudy conditions, among other allegations. At the time, she asked for unspecified compensatory and punitive damages. 

When the suit was filed, a spokesperson for Island Express Helicopters told E! News in a statement, “This was a tragic accident. We will have no comment on the pending litigation.” 

E! News has reached out to Island Express helicopters and Vanessa’s rep for comment on the settlement.

Vanessa separately sued the L.A. County Sheriff and his department, including four L.A. County sheriff’s deputies that she accused of leaking photos of the crash site. In March 2021, she revealed their identities as Joey Cruz, Rafael Mejia, Michael Russell and Raul Versales. (E! News reached out to the individuals at the time, but didn’t hear back.)

That lawsuit alleges, “No fewer than eight sheriff’s deputies at the crash site, pulled out their personal cell phones and snapped photos of the dead children, parents and coaches. The deputies took these photos for their own personal gratification.”

The LASD released a statement last September about the legal proceedings, saying, “Shortly following this tragic crash, Sheriff Villanueva sponsored legislation which now makes it a crime for public safety personnel to take or share non-official pictures of this nature.” It went on, “As a result of the swift actions we took under extraordinary circumstances, no pictures made it into the public arena. We continue to offer our heartfelt sympathies for the victims and their families.”

Just two days ago, Vanessa marked the second Father’s Day gone without the basketball champion. 

“To the best girl dad. Happy Father’s Day, Papi,” his wife of nearly 20 years wrote on Instagram. “We love you forever and always, always and forever. Love you always, Nani, Gigi, B.B, Koko and VB.”

Vanessa Bryant Revisits One of Kobe Bryant's Sweetest Moments With Their Girls for Father's Day

Vanessa Bryant paid tribute to her late husband, Kobe Bryant, on Father's Day, sharing a heartwarming throwback photo with an even more meaningful message.

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Vanessa Bryant is honoring “the best girl dad.”

To celebrate Father’s Day on Sunday, June 20, the 39-year-old star paid tribute to her late husband, Kobe Bryant—who tragically died in a helicopter crash with their 13-year-old daughter, Gianna “Gigi” Bryant, and several others in January 2020.

“To the best girl dad. Happy Father’s Day, Papi,” Vanessa captioned her Instagram post. “We love you forever and always, always and forever. Love you always, Nani, Gigi, B.B, Koko and VB.”

The California native also shared a throwback image of the Lakers legend smiling from ear to ear with his four daughters by his side. The photo appeared to be taken from his 44th birthday celebration in August 2019, two months after Capri “Koko Bean” Bryant was born.

Following Kobe and Gianna’s untimely death, the term “girl dad” quickly began trending worldwide. At the time, SportsCenter anchor Elle Duncan recalled her past interaction with Kobe, in which he used the heartfelt phrase.

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Kobe Bryant: Life in Photos

The journalist opened up about how she met the iconic athlete backstage at an event when she was eight months pregnant. When he asked about her pregnancy and what she was having, she told him she was expecting a girl.

“Girls are the best!” she recalled of his reaction, with him adding, “Just be grateful that you’ve been given that gift because girls are amazing.”

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Elle then asked Kobe if he and Vanessa would try for a boy, as he was a father to Natalia, Gigi and Bianka at the time. The couple would later welcome their fourth daughter in June 2019.

Kobe responded, “I would have five more girls if I could. I’m a girl dad.”

“When I reflect on this tragedy and that half an hour that I spent with Kobe Bryant two years ago,” Elle said, with tears in her eyes, “I suppose that the only small source of comfort for me is knowing that he died doing what he loved the most—being a dad. Being a girl dad.” 

Vanessa Bryant / Instagram

Vanessa echoed similar sentiments at the Basketball Hall of Fame Ceremony last month, in which her late husband was posthumously inducted.

“His most cherished accomplishment was being the very best girl dad,” she expressed. “I want to thank him for somehow finding ways to dedicate time to not only being an incredible athlete, a visionary, entrepreneur and storyteller but for also being an amazing family man.”

“Dear Kobe, thank you for being the best husband and father you could possibly be,” she continued. “Thank you for growing and learning from your own mistakes. Thank you for always trying to do better. Thank you for never giving up on us. Thank you for all of your hard work. Thank you for our family. Thank you for our daughters. Natalia, Gianna, Bianca and Capri. Thank you for working so tirelessly to provide for us and for giving us the most amazing life together.”

How Kobe Bryant Embodied the Joys of Being a Girl Dad

In the wake of Kobe Bryant's death while traveling with Gigi to one of her basketball games, new attention was paid to the incomparable bond between fathers and daughters.

In 2020, Kobe Bryant‘s legendary Lakers career was behind him, the stats safely secured for his eventual inclusion in the NBA Hall of Fame, his two numbers retired, his five championship rings under lock and key. All that was squared away.

But he was still coming into his own as a father of four daughters when he was killed in a helicopter crash.

Compounding the tragedy, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna “Gigi” Bryant was with him, as were two of her youth basketball league teammates, Alyssa Altobelli and Payton Chester, Alyssa’s parents John and Keri Altobelli, and Payton’s mom, Sarah Chester. All died, along with assistant coach Christina Mauser and pilot Ara Zobayan, and the world—for the most part just going about its business at the time—stopped to mourn.

For years, Kobe had traveled via helicopter the way most people hop into their cars and drive, the superstar athlete turned entrepreneur, author, producer and girls basketball coach not wanting to waste precious time stuck in L.A. traffic. They had been on their way to a tournament at the Mamba Sports Academy in Thousand Oaks, about 82 miles away from the Bryant home in Newport Beach. Gigi’s love of the game and promising talent had served as a bridge back to basketball for Kobe, who retired in 2016.  

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Kobe Bryant’s Family Album

Within hours after the unbelievable news washed over the Southland, the courtyard outside Staples Center (“the house Kobe Bryant built,” as Grammys host Alicia Keys put it that very night) filled with fans wearing their No. 24 and No. 8 jerseys. Flowers, candles and other mementos carpeted the ground. For days, buildings were awash in purple and gold lights, murals started to appear all over the city, and bus signs lit up with “R.I.P. Kobe” in between destinations. Meanwhile, the tributes online, on TV, on radio, on podcasts began, and wouldn’t stop for weeks.

Instagram

Amid the reports pouring in as Kobe’s life was examined from every angle—the exalted highs and career-threatening lows, the triumphant and the tumultuous, his awe-inspiring skills and his all-too-human flaws—came an ESPN segment that particularly stood out amid all the rest, one that paid tribute to an aspect of Kobe’s life that both highlighted his best qualities and which countless people could actually relate to.

Recalling meeting Kobe backstage at an event when she was 8 months pregnant, SportsCenter anchor Elle Duncan told of how he immediately asked her how far along she was and what was she having. When Duncan told him she was having a girl, he gave her a high five and gushed, “Girls are the best!” She asked if he had any advice, and Kobe told her, “Just be grateful that you’ve been given that gift because girls are amazing.” 

Asked if he wanted more children, the father of then only three—Natalia, Gigi and Bianka—said that wife Vanessa Bryant was up for trying again, because perhaps they’d finally have a boy. Then asked what he would do if he became a dad to four girls, Kobe told Duncan, “I would have five more girls if I could. I’m a girl dad.” (He and Vanessa welcomed daughter Capri in June 2019.)

With tears welling, the host signed off, saying, “When I reflect on this tragedy and that half an hour that I spent with Kobe Bryant two years ago, I suppose that the only small source of comfort for me is knowing that he died doing what he loved the most—being a dad. Being a girl dad.” 

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And with that, #girldad started trending worldwide, dads—and women posting pictures of dads and grandpas—using the hashtag to unite as one proud family, a network of people who may have been grieving a loss but who also were damn proud to be the fathers of daughters, joined by the girls-of-all-ages who loved them for it.

“I’m so proud and lucky to be a #GirlDad,” Alex Rodriguez, father of 16-year-old Natasha and 13-year-old Ella, tweeted, sharing the SportsCenter clip.

Tweeted Olympic decathlete Trey Hardee (a father of two daughters and, since this tweet, a son), “This video had me in tears. Being a girl dad has been the best part of my short life. I wish I knew about this part of Kobe. This will be his lasting impression on me. Not the wins, rings, or records. #girldad.”

And when Vanessa stoically, inspirationally and heartbreakingly eulogized her husband and daughter at the February 2020 memorial held at Staples Center for Kobe and Gigi, she called him “the MVP of girl dads, or MVD.”

Pau Gasol/Instagram

When Kobe’s former teammate Pau Gasol welcomed his first child in September (and honored Gigi in naming her), he immediately joined the club. “Our little one has finally arrived!! The delivery went really well and we couldn’t be happier!!” he shared on Instagram. “Elisabet Gianna Gasol, a very meaningful name for our super beautiful daughter!! #girldad.”

Or “#Padredeniña” in Spanish.

More than a year after Kobe’s death, that hashtag remains a fixture on social media, with more than 1 million posts coming up if you search for it on Instagram, plus countless others with slight variances (the addition of heart emojis, for example). And if you’re in the mood to have your heart warmed and you’ve already been through all the best puppy pics on Twitter, a quick scroll through the results of a #girldad search should suffice. The term itself, which Kobe didn’t invent but certainly gave a winning assist to, simply has become part of the cultural lexicon.

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Talking to People the day after the memorial, Duncan said she was happy that her remembrance had led to such a “positive moment” amid all that pain, but naturally she hadn’t expected it to have the impact it did.

“At first, I was very hesitant because I was like, ‘It’s not about me, it’s about Kobe,'” she recalled of putting the piece together. “I don’t know Kobe, I met him that one time. I feel like people probably want to hear from people that knew him intimately.” But her producer pointed out that “if Kobe was willing to open up to this complete stranger about his daughters and his love for his daughters, that was probably a great indicator of who he was.”

She also said that Kobe “was the first person to make me feel like [having a girl] was the best thing in the world. He really poured cold water all over this notion or this stereotype that men only feel complete if they have boys.”

AP/Shutterstock

Meanwhile, the Ohio woman who actually trademarked the term in 2017 and ran an online business selling apparel that said “GirlDad” was quite startled to see it start trending—especially since she’d already been privy to just how un-open certain people could be toward the celebration of families with all-girl broods.

“We got a lot of negative comments at times,” Hilary Wertin, whose site alldaughters.com also sells “BoyDad” items, told CantonRep.com last February about what motivated her to get into the “GirlDad” business. “It was surprising.”

Referring to the overnight global popularity of the phrase, which resulted in a sudden uptick in orders, her husband Jonas Wertin acknowledged, “We have a strange piece of this national conversation that’s happening.”

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NBA Stars Honor Kobe Bryant on Mamba Day

Hilary said that she didn’t want to “be one of those people” profiting from tragedy, but would-be customers started requesting Kobe-related gear, so she created a basketball-themed shirt in Lakers colors—and donated the proceeds of its sales to the MambaOnThree Fund, created to benefit the four other families who lost loved ones in the crash.

She also, incidentally, had to start taking steps to reassert her trademark in accordance with the law because of all the merchandise that started popping up to capitalize on the viral moment.

“I didn’t do it to jump on someone else’s bandwagon,” Hilary said of her company. “I did it because I believed that raising all girls was just as important and powerful as a family of all boys.”  

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Kobe Bryant Tribute at L.A. Lakers Game

While daughters and dads from all walks and stages of life have utilized the term, from gestation (lots of excited soon-to-be #girldads out there) to graduation to inauguration (“As a #girldad it’s great to hear glass shatter today,” tweeted one proud pop on Jan. 20), it remains especially poignant in the athletic community, where Kobe’s legacy looms large.

And parents aren’t the only ones who have been appreciating the additional attention being paid to budding female sports stars, as Gigi Bryant was.

Kami Miner, a Stanford-bound high school volleyball All-American whose father is former NBA player Harold Miner, told the Los Angeles Times, “It hurt my entire family when [Kobe] passed away. It was great to see the media focus on how he was as a father and that these athletes are trying to pass on what they learned to their children.”

“Hearing about Kobe and the relationship he had with his daughters,” she continued, “it gave some visibility to girls’ sports and hopefully that trend continues. There’s a lot of girl athletes come of age. They deserve it. They train as hard as the boys.”

Zach Randolph/Instagram

MacKenly Randolph, daughter of two-time NBA All-Star Zach Randolph, was coached by Kobe at the Mamba Sports Academy (since renamed Sports Academy, the “Mamba” retired) and had made the same helicopter trip with him and Gigi the week before they died after a sleepover at their house. “He basically taught me how to play defense and how to rotate,” the teen told The New York Times. As a coach, “You would know when he’s mad, or he’s not playing around, but he would never, like, yell at you.”

As her father added, “He loved them girls. He loved my baby. He told me, ‘I love her, man.’ When he told me that, I told him, ‘We’re brothers for life.'”

As a 6-foot-tall freshman, MacKenly now plays for L.A.-area private school Chatsworth Sierra Canyon. And her father certainly understands where Kobe was coming from.

“It’s a great feeling,” Zach told the Los Angeles Times. “Girl dad, oh man. I wouldn’t change it for anything.”

This story was originally published on Tuesday, January 26, 2021 at 12 a.m. PT. 

Vanessa Bryant Surprises Kobe's Sister Sharia Washington With a Tesla

Vanessa Bryant made a strong case for sister-in-law of the year when she surprised Sharia Washington with a brand new Tesla. Watch her tearful reaction to the gesture below!

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Vanessa Bryant is the ultimate teammate. 

The wife of late basketball legend Kobe Bryant surprised his sister, Sharia Washington, with a flashy new car on Thursday, June 3. Vanessa, 39, documented the moment Sharia found out she’d be getting the keys to a white Tesla in photos and videos shared to Instagram. 

“Surprise @shariawash! We love you!!!” Vanessa captioned her post. “Tesla Tunnel, here she comes!! Vegas to Cali #BoringTunnel.”

(Tesla CEO Elon Musk‘s The Boring Company recently built an underground transportation system in Sin City called the Las Vegas Convention Center Loop. According to their website, a separate Loop aimed to connect parts of Vegas and “eventually to Los Angeles” is under construction.)

Innovations in technology aside, Sharia said she was genuinely shocked by the gesture. 

“OMG! So this happened today!” she gushed on Instagram. “Thank you so much V! I’m still speechless! This is absolutely amazing Love you!!” 

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Kobe Bryant’s Family Attends Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony

In a separate video, Vanessa captured Sharia checking out the Tesla’s bells and whistles as she asked her, “Is that my bestie in a Tessie? Do you like your car?” 

Keep scrolling to see her reaction!

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Sharia and Kobe’s other sister, Shaya Bryant-Tabb, have become integral parts of Vanessa’s support system since he, daughter Gianna Bryant and seven others were killed in a January 2020 helicopter crash. 

“Laughter is the best medicine,” Vanessa captioned an Instagram video with Sharia as the first anniversary of their deaths approached. “It’s been so tough. Thx for flying in. I needed this @shariawash My sister-in-law is my #hypeman.”

Before surprising Sharia, Vanessa went to bat against Nike after shoes she helped design in Gianna’s memory were allegedly released without her permission. Get the details here.  

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