A bride who spent nearly six hours trapped in the wreckage of a helicopter that crashed minutes after her wedding has filed a lawsuit against the venue and the aircraft operator she blames for her husband's death. Jesni Sam filed the suit on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, both on her own behalf and on behalf of her late husband Dave Fiji's estate, over the May 29 crash near Dawsonville that killed Fiji and the pilot flying them.
What the Lawsuit Alleges
The complaint names Prestige Helicopters Inc., The Revere LLC and Revere Group LLC as defendants, according to Fox 5 Atlanta. Sam and Fiji were married that evening at The Revere, a wedding venue in Dawsonville, and boarded a helicopter for what was meant to be a celebratory send-off before it crashed in the Dawson Forest Wildlife Management Area. The lawsuit accuses the pilot, Nikhil Nargundkar, of failing to properly assess the weather and cancel or abort the flight, per the same account.
The suit also accuses Prestige Helicopters of failing to properly train and supervise its pilots and of failing to set adequate rules for canceling flights in unsafe weather. Separately, it alleges The Revere and Revere Group arranged and promoted the helicopter send-off without proper procedures in place for postponing or canceling it, the report notes. As reported by Yahoo News, the claims center on allegations that both the helicopter operator and the wedding venue failed to properly check the weather before the flight took off.
Trapped for Nearly Six Hours
The helicopter reportedly left the venue at about 11:45 p.m. bound for DeKalb-Peachtree Airport and crashed roughly five minutes later. Fiji and Nargundkar were killed, while Sam survived with serious injuries, according to the article. The lawsuit says she remained trapped in the wreckage for nearly six hours before rescuers found her.
The National Transportation Safety Board said the helicopter struck tall trees before going down in a wooded area, and that there was no post-impact fire, per the same account. The agency's investigation remains active, and a final report has not been released, the outlet notes.
A Legal Team With Ties to the Kobe Bryant Case
Sam is represented by Kansas City-based Robb & Robb LLC, the same firm that previously represented Vanessa Bryant in litigation over the helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant. The lawsuit does not request a specific dollar amount, instead asking a jury to determine damages, the Fox 5 Atlanta report states.
The case echoes other legal battles that have followed deadly wedding-related helicopter crashes. In a separate June 12, 2021, incident in Canterbury, New Zealand, newlyweds and a wedding photographer filed a lawsuit against Robinson Helicopter Company in the United States, according to the New Zealand Herald.
Neither Prestige Helicopters nor The Revere and Revere Group has publicly responded to the allegations in the suit, according to the reporting on the case. As the NTSB continues its investigation into what caused the crash, the lawsuit filed this week brings claims related to the deaths of Fiji and Nargundkar and the injuries Sam continues to live with.
