New York – Aaliyah’s record company cannot sue the video producer that arranged the 2001 airplane flight from the Bahamas in which the singer was killed, an appeals court has ruled.
The Manhattan court dismissed the lawsuit brought by Blackground Records, saying only the singer’s parents had a right to sue for her wrongful death. The court said the parents did so and were compensated.
Blackground’s appellate lawyer, Frank Penski, said Thursday he had not seen the decision and did not know whether his client planned to pursue the case.
Aaliyah had just finished a music video when she and eight others were killed in the crash of a twin-engine Cessna as it left the Bahamas en route to Florida in August 2001. She was 22.
An investigation showed the aircraft was overloaded by 700 pounds. An autopsy found cocaine and alcohol in the pilot’s body, according to a coroner’s testimony.
In 2003, Aaliyah’s parents, Michael and Diana Haughton, filed papers in Los Angeles court saying they had reached an undisclosed settlement with the plane’s operator, owners and flight broker.
