LOS ANGELES (AP) — A federal jury ruled Wednesday that Los Angeles County should pay Kobe Bryant’s widow $16 million for emotional distress caused by lawmakers and firefighters who shared photos of NBA players’ bodies. The star and her daughter were pulled from the seat of the 2020 helicopter. the accident that killed them.
In a unanimous decision, the nine jurors agreed with Vanessa Bryant and her lawyers that the footage of the remains of Kobe Bryant and their 13-year-old daughter Gianna violated his privacy and caused him emotional stress.
The jury debated for 4.5 hours before reaching a verdict. Vanessa Bryant cried silently as she read.
The district attorney declined to comment on the verdict outside the courtroom.
Los Angeles Lakers basketball player Kobe Bryant’s wife Vanessa Bryant (centre), daughter Natalia Bryant (left) and close friend Sidney Leroux (right) left a Los Angeles, California courthouse on August 24, 2022. The verdict in Bryant’s federal negligence case against Los Angeles County. (via Getty Images PATRIK T. FALLON/AFP)
The photos were distributed primarily to Los Angeles County Sheriffs and firefighters, including those playing video games and attending the awards banquet. They have also been seen by some of their wives and once by a bartender in a bar having a drink from a proxy.
Vanessa Bryant tearfully testified at her 11-day trial that the news about the photos still exacerbated her grief a month after she lost her husband and daughter, and she had a panic attack, thinking they might still be there. somewhere.
“I live in fear of being on social media every day and they show up,” she said. “I live in fear that my daughters are on social media and that it will come out.”
Co-plaintiff Chris Chester, whose wife and daughter were among the nine people who died in the plane crash, received $15 million.
Vanessa Bryant’s attorneys did not give the jurors the amount of dollars they thought their client was entitled to, but Chester’s attorney gave them advice that would amount to tens of millions of dollars for each plaintiff.
Vanessa Bryant’s lawyer, Louis Lee, told jurors that the close-up photos were not official or investigative, but merely “visual rumors” out of curiosity.
District Attorney J. Mira Hashmoll argued during the trial that the photographs were a necessary tool to assess the situation.
He admitted that they should not be shared with anyone who sees them. But he stressed that the photos were never made public and were never seen by the plaintiffs. He said that means Sheriff Alex Villanueva and other officials took strong and effective action when they ordered people with photos to remove them.
Former Lakers star, five-time NBA champion, and Basketball Hall of Famer Kobe Bryant was on his way to a youth basketball game with Gianna and seven others when their helicopter crashed in the Calabasas hills west of Los Angeles. January 26, 2020
(LR) Vanessa Bryant, Michael Jordan, and Mary J. Blige at the 2022 NBA All-Star Game on February 20, 2022 at the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images)
Federal security services blamed the pilot for the accident.
The jury decided on Kobe Bryant Day, which is celebrated on August 24, the day after his birthday, as he wore the number 8 and 24 jersey. Kobe would turn 44 on Tuesday.
Source: Breitbart
