A nurse who survived a Georgia helicopter crash that killed her husband hours after their wedding has sued the venue that arranged the send-off and the company that operated the aircraft.
Lawyers for Jesni Sam filed a complaint for damages on Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026, in DeKalb County State Court. The suit names three defendants: Prestige Helicopters Inc., The Revere LLC and Revere Group LLC. Sam is suing individually and on behalf of the estate of her husband, Dave Fiji, as a wrongful death claim. The deceased pilot, Nikhil Nargundkar, 28, is not named as a defendant.
The Robinson R66 went down on May 29, hours after the couple exchanged vows. The crash killed Fiji, 25, and Nargundkar. The filing comes nearly four months after the wedding-night flight.
What the Lawsuit Alleges
The suit alleges The Revere and Prestige Helicopters failed to properly evaluate worsening weather and were negligent in allowing the flight to go ahead. The Revere, a luxury wedding and events venue in Dawsonville, Ga., arranged the “Helicopter Send-Off,” and Atlanta-based Prestige Helicopters operated it.
The suit claims the send-off should never have taken place in dangerous weather. According to the complaint, the venue had neither proper safety standards nor any plan to scrub the flight once conditions worsened, and the helicopter still lifted off from a helipad on its property. A chain of failures by the people who put the couple in the air produced a crash that was preventable, Sam’s attorneys contend.
“In a matter of minutes, Jesni went from celebrating the happiest day of her life to experiencing something almost impossible to comprehend,” Andrew Robb, a partner at Robb & Robb LLC, said in a statement.
Through the lawsuit, Sam is seeking answers and accountability for what happened to her and her husband, Robb said, adding that she means to push for changes so that no other newlywed couple goes through the same thing. Sam is seeking damages and coverage of legal fees, her attorney said.
Robb & Robb LLC is based in Kansas City, and the 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.
The Wedding and the Flight
The ceremony and reception at The Revere drew about 400 guests and wrapped up around 9:30 p.m. From there, the newlyweds were to fly to DeKalb-Peachtree Airport in DeKalb County, with a night booked at a downtown Atlanta hotel.
Rain and fog rolled in ahead of the departure, and Dave Fiji questioned whether the flight should happen at all. “He said I wouldn’t fly, we would not fly in this visibility,” George Fiji, Dave Fiji’s father, told WSB-TV. Phebah Fiji, Dave Fiji’s mother, told WAGA that her son raised concerns about the low visibility before takeoff. The pilot’s answer, as Sam recounted it later to her father-in-law, was that they would fly at a higher altitude.
A National Transportation Safety Board preliminary report puts the crash at approximately 9:50 p.m. Neighbors said the helicopter 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 Office was dispatched to a report of a possible downed helicopter, and it took searchers time to pinpoint the wreckage, George Fiji said. Rescuers reached Sam only after she had been pinned in the debris for nearly six hours, her father-in-law said. Her husband was lying against her chest when she regained consciousness beneath the wreckage, he said, and her nursing training told her he had already died.
The lawsuit describes Sam’s injuries as “profound physical injuries,” including permanent scarring and headaches. Her attorneys say she has been dealing with mental health struggles since the crash. A metro Atlanta hospital was still treating her as of June 1, and doctors expected to release her within days.
What Investigators Have Found
Leading the investigation is the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which has said early evidence indicated the helicopter struck tall trees before hitting terrain in the wooded area. No post-crash fire broke out, the agency said, and all of the aircraft’s major components were accounted for by investigators.
An NTSB spokesperson said as of June 1 that meteorologists at the agency were conducting a weather study of the flight, with preliminary information pointing to the potential for rain showers, low-level clouds and thunderstorms in the vicinity.
The agency’s preliminary report, released in late June, found no pre-impact problems with the aircraft and pointed to rain and possible thunderstorms. It did not determine a probable cause. The report documented rain and fog, a cloud ceiling near 200 feet above ground level, overcast clouds at about 600 feet, and an aviation weather advisory indicating embedded thunderstorms.
NTSB investigators said the pilot had passed all required flight tests and safety checks and was qualified to fly the helicopter. He earned his instrument helicopter rating in 2023 and later a commercial pilot certificate, and he completed training and proficiency checks on the Robinson R44 and R66 in September 2025, according to the preliminary report.
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.
The NTSB says the investigation remains open. The agency will detail a probable cause and any contributing factors in a final report expected in 12 to 24 months.
A Decade Before the Vows
Jesni Sam and Dave Fiji met more than a decade before the wedding, through church connections between South Carolina and Georgia. Dave Fiji had dreamt of flying since he was 10 years old, and he was working as a first officer for Endeavor Air, a Delta Air Lines subsidiary.
