File photo.
A negligence lawsuit originating from the 2012 plane crash in Mexico that killed Long Beach-based singer Jenni Rivera was settled by her estate with one of the remaining parties sued, attorneys in the case told a judge Thursday.
Attorneys for the singer’s family and Bombardier Inc. during a hearing told Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Holly Kendig that they resolved that part of the case against the company, which serviced the aircraft. The Rivera estate’s lawyer Andrew Owen said court papers will soon be filed outlining how the settlement money will be held in trust for two of Rivera’s five children, Jenika Lopez and Juan Angel Lopez, who were both minors when their mother died.
The judge also scheduled a July 24, 2017 trial of the case against the remaining defendants, Starwood Management LLC, Starwood officer Norma Gonzalez and Garmin International Inc. Starwood owned the jet and Garmin shares responsibility for the allegedly faulty navigational system in the aircraft, the suit alleges.
According to the Rivera estate’s lawyer, Starwood and Gonzalez have been served with notices that the family will seek default judgments against the pair.
Rivera, 43, was killed along with her publicist Artur Rivera, makeup artist Jacobo Yebale, hairstylist Jorge Armando Sanchez Vasquez, and her attorney Mario Macias Pacheco. The jet crashed on Dec. 9, 2012 at about 3:30AM after leaving Monterrey in the mountains of northern Mexico. The Long Beach native had just performed in Monterrey and was on her way to Mexico City to appear on the Mexican version of “The Voice.”
She was widely known for her banda style of regional Mexican music and was one of the biggest stars on Mexican television and popular on regional Spanish stations in California.
Separate lawsuits against Starwood filed by relatives of most of the others killed in the crash are pending. The plaintiffs in the consolidated complaint are family members of Rivera, Yebale, Vasquez, Pacheco, and Miguel Perez Soto, one of the two pilots who died in the crash.
City News Service contributed to this report.