In her lawsuit against the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and L.A. County Fire Department over alleged graphic photos from the scene of the tragic helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant, their 13-year-old daughter Gianna, and six additional people in January 2020, a jury has ruled in Vanessa Bryant’s favor.
According to TMZ, Bryant has received a $16 million award. Chris Chester will also earn $15 million. Chris Chester lost his wife Sarah and daughter Payton, 13, in the accident.
Bryant claimed in her lawsuit that she “suffers and will continue to suffer severe emotional distress” as a result of the pictures that were removed from the website and that she always worries about them being made public in the future. According to ESPN, the decision was made on Kobe Bryant Day in Los Angeles, which was chosen as a tribute to the two numbers Kobe wore throughout his 20-year career with the Lakers (No. 8 and 24).
Vanessa filed the complaint against L.A. County officials in September 2020, charging them with negligence, breach of privacy, and purposeful infliction of emotional distress. According to court records, these photographs were circulated among at least 28 devices used by L.A. County Sheriff’s Department personnel. Twelve county firefighters took a number of “close-up” pictures, and one of them shared these pictures in 2020 at a broadcast journalist gala.
Los Angeles County made an effort to have Bryant undergo a mental examination on the justification that her claim of emotional distress was related to the collision itself, not the alleged images. A judge rejected the county’s motion to have the lawsuit dismissed in January because there was enough information to proceed with a trial.