Parents Of Aaliyah File Wrongful-Death Lawsuit

The parents of Aaliyah, acting as co-administrators of her estate, have filed a sweeping wrongful-death suit over the Bahamas plane crash that took the singer's life on Aug. 25. The action, filed Monday in California Superior Court in L.A., seeks damages to be determined at trial. It names defendants that include Virgin Records America, distributor of Blackground Records, for which Aaliyah recorded; video director Hype Williams and his production company; and several firms that were allegedly involved in the chartering of the fatal flight.

Diane and Michael Haughton claim in the suit that the defendants "willfully, wantonly, recklessly, maliciously and despicably chose not to properly or adequately select, train or employ a qualified pilot and aircraft." The chartered Cessna, which was transporting Aaliyah and others from a video shoot for the song "Rock the Boat" to Miami, crashed on takeoff, killing the vocalist and eight others on board (Bulletin, Aug. 28). The relatives of two hairstylists killed in the crash later sued Virgin, Blackground, and Williams (Bulletin, March 1).

An EMI spokeswoman offered a statement on Virgin's behalf: "We haven't been served, and in any event we would not comment on the specifics of pending legal action. This accident was a terrible tragedy, but EMI has no liability."