Nearly four months after a wedding-night helicopter flight in Georgia ended in a fatal crash, the bride who survived it has sued the venue that arranged the send-off and the company that operated the aircraft. Lawyers for Jesni Sam, a nurse, filed a complaint for damages on Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026, alleging that The Revere and Prestige Helicopters failed to properly evaluate worsening weather and were negligent in allowing the flight to go ahead. Her husband, Dave Fiji, 25, and the pilot, Nikhil Nargundkar, 28, were killed when the helicopter went down on May 29, hours after the couple exchanged vows.
“In a matter of minutes, Jesni went from celebrating the happiest day of her life to experiencing something almost impossible to comprehend,” said Andrew Robb, a partner at Robb & Robb LLC, in a statement.
The Kansas City-based firm previously represented Vanessa Bryant in litigation over the helicopter crash that killed her husband, NBA star Kobe Bryant, their 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, and several others.
What the Lawsuit Alleges
The “Helicopter Send-Off,” arranged by The Revere, a luxury wedding and events venue in Dawsonville, Ga., and operated by Atlanta-based Prestige Helicopters, should never have taken place in dangerous weather, the suit claims. The complaint also faults the venue for lacking proper safety standards and any plan to call off the flight when conditions deteriorated, even though the helicopter lifted off from a helipad on the property. Sam’s attorneys contend the crash could have been prevented and grew out of a series of failures by those who put the couple in the air.
A Pilot’s Warning Before Takeoff
The couple met more than a decade before the wedding, through church connections between South Carolina and Georgia. About 400 guests attended the ceremony and reception at The Revere, which wrapped up around 9:30 p.m. From there, the newlyweds were to fly to DeKalb-Peachtree Airport in DeKalb County and spend the night at a downtown Atlanta hotel.
Dave Fiji had dreamt of flying since he was 10 years old and was working as a first officer for Delta Air Lines. As rain and fog rolled in ahead of the departure, he questioned whether the flight should happen at all. “He said I wouldn’t fly, we would not fly in this visibility,” his father, George Fiji, told WSB-TV. Sam later told her father-in-law that the pilot said they would fly at a higher altitude.
Nearly Six Hours in the Wreckage
The Robinson R66 crashed around 10:30 p.m., only minutes after takeoff, in a heavily wooded area not far from the venue. Neighbors said it came down on a 10,000-acre tract owned by the City of Atlanta and managed by the state as a wildlife management area. The Dawson County Sheriff’s Department was dispatched to a report of a possible downed helicopter, and searchers needed time to pinpoint the wreckage, George Fiji said.
Sam was pinned in the debris for nearly six hours before rescuers reached her, her father-in-law said. She regained consciousness beneath the wreckage with her husband lying against her chest, he said, and recognized as a nurse that he had already died. She suffered cuts and bruises but no broken bones. As of June 1, she was recovering at a metro Atlanta hospital and was expected to be released within days.
What Investigators Have Said
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is leading the investigation. Early evidence indicated the helicopter struck tall trees before hitting terrain in the wooded area, the agency has said. There was no post-crash fire, and investigators accounted for all of the aircraft’s major components. As of June 1, an NTSB spokesperson said the agency’s meteorologists were conducting a weather study of the flight, and that preliminary information pointed to the potential for rain showers, low-level clouds and thunderstorms in the vicinity.
Andy Whitaker, director of operations for Prestige Helicopters, told WTOC the crash was unprecedented for the company, which he said had maintained a spotless flying record for decades. The pilot, he added, had flown that same route several times.
Robb said the lawsuit is Sam’s effort to obtain answers and accountability for what happened to her and her husband, and that she intends to press for changes so no other newlywed couple endures the same thing. The NTSB, for its part, says the investigation remains open, and that a probable cause along with any contributing factors will be detailed in a final report expected in 12 to 24 months.