A helicopter company and wedding venue are now facing a lawsuit after a crash that killed a husband on his wedding night.
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Channel 2’s Bryan Mims reports the suit claims the pilot of the helicopter should have never taken off.
The pilot flew for Prestige Helicopters, which is based at DeKalb-Peachtree Airport, which is where the pilot was bringing the newlyweds.
Prestige and The Revere wedding venue are named as defendants. The lawsuit says they made a negligent decision to fly in rainy weather.
The lawsuit begins with these words: “It was supposed to be the best day of Jesni Sam’s life. Instead, it is an unimaginable nightmare.”
The day was May 29. Dave Fiji and Sam just said their vows at The Revere, a wedding venue outside Dawsonville.
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They boarded a helicopter. But five minutes into the flight, the chopper crashed in dense woods and hills.
Two days after the tragedy, Mims spoke with the groom’s parents.
They say their son — who was a pilot himself — expressed concern about the weather.
In its preliminary report, the National Transportation Safety Board says the area had moderate rain, a low cloud ceiling and embedded thunderstorms at the time of the crash.
Dave Fiji and the pilot, Nikhil Nargundkar, were killed.
A wrongful death lawsuit filed by the bride says she was trapped in rubble under her new husband’s body and in excruciating pain for nearly six hours before rescue.
“She said when she woke up, she was going on and under the rubble. she woke up and saw him lying on her chest,” Georgia Fiji, the groom’s father, said. “She herself is a nurse. When she touched him, she called him. He was already cold.”
The lawsuit calls the tragedy “utterly preventable,” saying the pilot failed to properly monitor the weather and did not abort the flight when he knew of low visibility.
It also says The Revere authorized and arranged the flight despite the weather.
Attorneys say they want to ensure no newlywed couple suffers anything like this again.
Sam is represented by Robb and Robb, the same law firm that represented Kobe Bryant’s widow after he was killed in a helicopter crash in 2020.
The lawsuit is seeking compensation, with a jury to determine the amount.
Mims reached out to both Prestige and The Revere for comment but have not heard back.
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