Victims' relatives sue Jenni Rivera's company over crash
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Relatives of four passengers killed last month with Jenni Rivera in a plane crash in Mexico filed a lawsuit against Rivera's company Thursday alleging the singer was negligent when she hired a faulty Learjet 25.
The civil lawsuit filed in a Los Angeles court seeks unspecified financial compensation from Jenni Rivera Enterprises. It claims Rivera picked the aircraft owned by Las Vegas-based Starwood Management and should have known the state of the plane and the pilots' status.
"There are a lot of doubts about why Jenni Rivera chose that aerial clunker," said attorney Vance Owen, of Kiel & Larson, who represents the plaintiffs.
Rivera's publicist, Arturo Rivera, her makeup artist, Jacob Yebale, her stylist, Jorge Sanchez, her lawyer, Mario Macias, and the two pilots were among the seven people killed when the aircraft crashed Dec. 9 in northern Mexico.
Authorities have not determined what caused the plane to plunge, killing all onboard.
Jenni Rivera Enterprises collects royalties and copyright payments for Rivera, 43, and it manages the singer's other businesses and assets.
The Encino-based company was taken over by Rivera's sister, Rosy Rivera, according to their brother, Pedro Rivera.
Pedro Rivera didn't return a message requesting comment Thursday.
The lawsuit also accuses three other companies that own or once owned the Learjet 25 of negligence, alleging they knew or should have known the plane was not safe to fly and it was "likely to injure or kill any person or persons who used it." It also alleges negligence by 100 unidentified people who took part in the plane's design, testing, sale, maintenance, repairs and checks.
The companies are Starwood Management, which owned the aircraft, Rodartz Financial Group Inc., which owns Starwood, and McOco Inc., which owned the plane for two decades before Starwood bought it.
The lawsuit also alleges the three companies and the unidentified people knew that the pilot and co-pilot did not have the necessary training and were not apt to safely fly the plane.
According to the National Transportation Safety Board, the same plane was substantially damaged in a 2005 landing mishap at Amarillo International Airport in Texas. It hit a runway distance marker after losing directional control. There were four aboard but no injuries. It was registered to a company in Houston, Texas, as the time.
Starwood has been the subject of a lawsuit and investigations, though none so far have centered on the plane that carried Rivera. Another of its planes was seized in September by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in McAllen, Texas.
The civil lawsuit filed in a Los Angeles court seeks unspecified financial compensation from Jenni Rivera Enterprises. It claims Rivera picked the aircraft owned by Las Vegas-based Starwood Management and should have known the state of the plane and the pilots' status.
"There are a lot of doubts about why Jenni Rivera chose that aerial clunker," said attorney Vance Owen, of Kiel & Larson, who represents the plaintiffs.
Rivera's publicist, Arturo Rivera, her makeup artist, Jacob Yebale, her stylist, Jorge Sanchez, her lawyer, Mario Macias, and the two pilots were among the seven people killed when the aircraft crashed Dec. 9 in northern Mexico.
Authorities have not determined what caused the plane to plunge, killing all onboard.
Jenni Rivera Enterprises collects royalties and copyright payments for Rivera, 43, and it manages the singer's other businesses and assets.
The Encino-based company was taken over by Rivera's sister, Rosy Rivera, according to their brother, Pedro Rivera.
Pedro Rivera didn't return a message requesting comment Thursday.
The lawsuit also accuses three other companies that own or once owned the Learjet 25 of negligence, alleging they knew or should have known the plane was not safe to fly and it was "likely to injure or kill any person or persons who used it." It also alleges negligence by 100 unidentified people who took part in the plane's design, testing, sale, maintenance, repairs and checks.
The companies are Starwood Management, which owned the aircraft, Rodartz Financial Group Inc., which owns Starwood, and McOco Inc., which owned the plane for two decades before Starwood bought it.
The lawsuit also alleges the three companies and the unidentified people knew that the pilot and co-pilot did not have the necessary training and were not apt to safely fly the plane.
According to the National Transportation Safety Board, the same plane was substantially damaged in a 2005 landing mishap at Amarillo International Airport in Texas. It hit a runway distance marker after losing directional control. There were four aboard but no injuries. It was registered to a company in Houston, Texas, as the time.
Starwood has been the subject of a lawsuit and investigations, though none so far have centered on the plane that carried Rivera. Another of its planes was seized in September by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in McAllen, Texas.
Everybody watch what you say or I'll sue!
 @Throbbinhood I'm suing you for that comment, for deliberately and with malice aforethought posting a completely unoffensive, innocuous sentence that gives me NOTHING to work with as to suing for millions in damages! Big rip-off is what you are, buddy boy, but I'm on to ya!Â
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Oh, and following the deep pocket chain, KOMO, then ABC. And without the broadcasters and anchor men and women who sit at those news desks, there would be no web site; thus they're enabling these atrocities such as yours to continue so blatantly and are all named in the lawsuit.Â
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And Apple for designing and selling to me this computer on which I read your hatefully mild comment, and the company who designed yours, and the store who sold it to you.Â
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And if everybody didn't do stuff or have stuff happen to them there would be no news to report. again, the web site where you posted this offensively innocuous comment wouldn't exist, so therefore I am suing EVERYBODY EVER for a gazillion billon dollars!Â
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Nobody violates my civll rights and steals money I have rightfully coming by posting a comment on a website that I cannot possibly take offensively and cash in for millions!Â
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As soon as Vance Owen of Kiel and Larson is finished up here, my case sounds right up his alley, don't you think?Â
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Throw this crap out.
 It claims Rivera picked the aircraft owned by Las Vegas-based Starwood Management and should have known the state of the plane and the pilots' status.
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Is She a pilot and gave the plane a pre flight check before she picked the plane????  Come on People if she picked suck a "Ariel Clunker" As the Attorney for the Plaintiffs stated do you really think She would have gotten on the plane with the Plaintiffs??? No I don't thinks so. If this Lawyer wants to sue someone then he should be suing Starwood Managment who owned the plane and not the singer who was on "the same plane" and also died in the crash. This just shows what scumsucking pieces of crap Lawyers are. Give me a break........... How was this her fault????
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 @Seahawker Lawyers always chase the person with the deepest pockets who is also most likely to have insurance and/or reach an out-of-court settlement.
It seems they've chosen the nuclear option rather than the shotgun, but it's their right to do so and the courts and a jury will sort it out. Which is better than a real shotgun or nuke.
@uscit16791949 "It's their right" Thats the problem. There needs o be some serious totr reform that makes people who file bogus lawsuits such as this 100% liable for all costs associated with them and even subject to jail time.