The parents of the late R&B singer Aaliyah, Diane and Michael Houghton, filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court Monday against Virgin Records, their daughter's record label. The couple alleges that the record company, by hiring the wrong size plane and an inexperienced pilot to fly gear and crew to a video shoot in the Bahamas, was negligent in their daughter's death.

Aaliyah, who was twenty-two, died August 25th along with eight others when their twin-engine, ten-seat Cessna crashed shortly after taking off from a Bahamian airfield. Also named in the suit, which seeks unspecified damages, are Blackhawk International Airways -- the charter operator -- and two video production companies.

Families of two other passengers aboard the flight filed similar lawsuits in Los Angeles Monday; and in February, the families of two hairdressers also killed in the crash filed claims against Virgin, claiming the label had put "profits over safety."

Monday's filings come only two days after news broke that the Bahamian government is wrapping up its investigation of the crash. According to reports, Island officials will blame pilot error, inexperience and excess weight aboard the plane as the three primary causes of the crash.

AUGUSTIN K. SEDGEWICK
(May 14, 2002)