A Georgia woman’s dream wedding turned into a deadly nightmare after the couple’s post-ceremony helicopter ride crashed, killing her new husband and seriously injuring her.
Jesni Sam filed a wrongful death and negligence lawsuit in DeKalb County State Court on behalf of herself and her late husband, Dave Fiji. The suit names Prestige Helicopters Inc. and The Revere wedding venue as defendants.
Fiji and Sam were married on May 29 at The Revere in Dawsonville, about 60 miles northeast of Atlanta. The venue offered a “Helicopter Send-Off” from a helipad on its property.
According to the lawsuit, the venue and helicopter company decided to take off “despite dangerous and deteriorating weather conditions.”
“Within minutes after departing, the helicopter crashed among the trees in the Dawson Forest Wildlife Management Area,” the lawsuit states.
Fiji and the pilot, Nikhil Nargundkar, died. Sam survived but was trapped in the “mangled wreckage.”
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“For nearly six hours, Jesni remained trapped in the rubble, with the deceased corpse of the man she had married only hours earlier lying on top of her,” her lawyers write.
Sam suffered “profound physical injuries,” including permanent scarring and headaches.
Her attorneys, from Missouri-based Robb & Robb, argued the tragedy was “utterly preventable” and that the defendants acted negligently when they failed to “account for dangerous weather conditions.” The suit says the National Weather Service had issued an alert for thunderstorms, low clouds and fog in the area, which the pilot failed to consider.
The National Transportation Safety Board has not determined an official cause of the crash. It said there were no known mechanical issues with the aircraft and noted the poor weather conditions.
Fiji, a pilot himself, asked Nargundkar about the low visibility, according to his mother, Phebah Fiji, who spoke to WAGA. Nargundkar, however, was confident it would not be a problem.
“With [Nargundkar’s] confidence, and since Dave doesn’t fly helicopters, he went with his perspective … since it’s just a 20- to 25-minute flight,” Phebah Fiji told the TV station.
Robb & Robb specializes in aviation law. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that the firm also represented Kobe Bryant’s family in a lawsuit after the 2020 crash that killed him, his daughter and several others.
Prestige Helicopters and The Revere did not immediately return messages from Law&Crime seeking comment.
“In a matter of minutes, Jesni went from celebrating the happiest day of her life to experiencing something almost impossible to comprehend,” Andrew Robb, a partner at Robb & Robb, said in a statement to WSB. “Jesni’s lawsuit seeks answers and accountability for what happened to her and her husband, and she will fight to ensure that no newlywed couple ever suffers anything like this again.”