Virgin sued over Aaliyah crash

The plane crashed soon after take off

Virgin Records America is being sued for negligence for chartering a small plane in which the singer Aaliyah and eight other people died last year.

The legal action is being brought by the family members of two of the victims, hair stylists Eric Forman, 29, and Anthony Dodd, 34, but not by any of the family of Aaliyah.

Aaliyah scored a posthumous UK hit

All nine people on board the Florida-bound plane died when it crashed soon after taking off from an airport in the Bahamas.

The lawsuit says the aircraft was overloaded with passengers, luggage and equipment used in a video shot and that the pilot "was not approved to act as pilot of the accident aircraft".

'Tragedy'

Brian Panish, a solicitor acting for the families, said the record company "took profits over the safety of transporting people".

The families are seeking unspecified monetary damages and "answers to why this tragedy occurred", he added.

He said he was not aware of any other legal action filed by Aaliyah's family.

Virgin Records has not commented on the legal action.

Aaliyah had been in the Bahamas' Abaco Island to film a video for the song Rock the Boat, which earned the singer a nomination for best female R&B vocal performance at the Grammys in Los Angeles on Wednesday.

Defendants

She also had been nominated for best R&B album, but Alicia Keys won in both categories.

At the time of her death she was one of the fastest rising stars in the US and a film in which she starred has since gone to the top of the American box office charts and she has also had a posthumous number one single in the UK.

In addition to Virgin Records America, the defendants listed were music video director Harold Williams, Instinct Productions, Big Dog House Films, Blackground Records LLC, Skystream and Blackhawk International Airways.

A report by Bahamian aviation officials said the estimated weight of the plane, luggage and fuel was about 5,495 pounds, not including the weight of the nine occupants.

Maximum takeoff weight for the plane is 6,300 pounds, which would have left only 805 pounds for the pilot and passengers.

Neither Blackhawk, the Florida charter company, or Skystream, the plane's registered owner, had a permit to operate commercial charter flights in the Bahamas, an investigator for the Bahamian Civil Aviation Department has said.