The family of a woman, who was killed in a four-car freeway crash involving R&B star Brandy, on Tuesday filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Grammy Award-winning singer-actress in Los Angeles County Superior Court, seeking $50 million in compensatory and punitive damages.
The suit by the parents of Awatef Aboudihaj came a day after the California Highway Patrol (CHP) recommended that prosecutors charge Brandy with a misdemeanor count of vehicular manslaughter for her part in a December 06 freeway pile-up.
A misdemeanor offense, which is less serious than a felony charge, carries a maximum penalty of one year in jail and a $1,000 fine. And, charging the entertainer with misdemeanor offense means that prosecutors determine the death did not result from gross negligence.
According to a highway patrol report, the 27-year-old performer, whose full name is Brandy Norwood, had failed to see traffic slowing in front of her while driving her Land Rover along the 405 freeway on 30 December 06, and collided with Aboudihaj’s Toyota in front of her. The 38-year-old victim’s car slammed into another vehicle, slid sideways into the freeway's center divider and was then hit by another automobile, the report said.
The collision set off a chain of accidents which left Aboudihaj, a Los Angeles waitress, dead. Aboudihaj was locomoted to Providence Holy Cross Medical Centre with blunt-force injuries and died the next evening.
The police investigations found the performer’s involvement and fault in the fatal collision that left Aboudihaj dead, CHP spokesman Leland Tang reported. The investigators have ruled out alcohol, drugs and other distractions as factors in the crash and say there was no evidence that Brandy was using a cell phone. Brandy was in her car alone, Tang said.
The lawsuit, filed as a three-page form complaint on behalf of Aboudihaj Ahmed and Labridi Zohra, claims Brandy was driving recklessly.
"The accident was a terrible tragedy, and Brandy's heart goes out to Awatef Aboudihaj's family," Brandy's spokeswoman, Kelly Mullens of the 42West agency, said in a statement. "But for legal reasons we cannot comment on this lawsuit."
Brandy has publicly expressed condolences to the victim's family as a fellow motorist involved in the crash revealed the singer admitted fault at the scene. A gossip website cited a man driving immediately behind Brandy as saying, "She got upset, talking about how it was all her fault she didn't stop. She kept saying how she hit the lady."
The Los Angeles City Attorney's office will review the case and decide whether to file the charge against her. And, if charged and subsequently found guilty, the star could face one year in jail. Brandy was not arrested, but Los Angeles police officials, who have spent the last month probing the collision, handed the matter over to prosecutors last week.
Brandy, television's talented African-American teen idol, is best known for her starring roles in the sitcom 'Moesha' and the 1997 version of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella. She has made five albums and earned a Grammy in 1999.
She began her recording career at 14 and acted for film and television. Most recently, she has been cast as being one of three judges on the TV reality show ‘America's Got Talent’ in 2006.
In 2004, Brandy got married secretly to record producer Robert Smith but later on she denied it saying she and record producer Robert Smith, the father of her 2-year-old daughter, Sy'rai, were never married. At the time of her pregnancy Brandy announced that she had tied the knot a year earlier with pro basketball player Quentin Richardson.
She has dated Boyz II Men's Wayna Morris and went to the prom with all-world basketball star Kobe Bryant when he was in high school.
What would you sue for should it be a member of your family , and to some 50 mil is out of line and to others 50 mil is not enough , it all depends on the value you place on a human life .