Lakers: Judge Denies Request to Throw Out Vanessa Bryant's Lawsuit Over Crash Photos
The battle over the death of Lakers legend Kobe Bryant continues this week. Almost two years since the day that he passed in a tragic helicopter crash, and Kobe's family is still fighting in court for justice with the way it was all handled by first responders.
This week, an attempt to get a lawsuit by Vanessa Bryant thrown out was officially denied by U.S. District Judge John F. Walter. The Bryant family filed a lawsuit against Los Angeles County for invasion of privacy and negligence in how they handled the crash scene. The lawsuit says that the sheriff's department and fire department shared photos of the crash in the days and weeks following.
The County of Los Angeles attempted to argue that the case was not valid since photos of the crash were deleted and not shared, aside from one rogue employee. Vanessa Bryant's attorney argued otherwise.
Mrs. Bryant has gathered ample evidence of Defendants' wrongdoing and the harm it has caused her. The close-up photos of Gianna and Kobe’s remains were passed around on at least twenty-eight LASD devices and by at least a dozen firefighters. And that was only the beginning. The gratuitous sharing continued in the following days and weeks and included such outrageous conduct as flaunting the photos in a bar while pantomiming dismemberment and showing off the photos over cocktails at an awards gala... The callous and shocking behavior uncovered by Mrs. Bryant is more than enough to survive summary judgment.
The trial is currently set to begin on February 22nd in Los Angeles. Two other families who had members involved in the crash settled for $1.25 million in separate cases. Vanessa Bryant has shown no indication that they are looking to settle at all, and it appears that justice is the main motivation here.
