Kobe Bryant's crash photos suit settled by Vanessa Bryant for $28.85 million

A judge decided in favour of Kobe Bryant's wife Vanessa Bryant in a legal dispute that focused on first responders disseminating graphic photographs of the Los Angeles Lakers star after he was discovered dead at the crash scene more than three years after his passing.

Late Kobe Bryant and Vanessa Bryant with their daughters [Image-Twitter]
By Blesson Daniel | Mar 1, 2023 | 3 Min Read follow icon Follow Us

In regard to images that deputies released following a 2020 helicopter accident that killed her husband, former Los Angeles Lakers player Kobe Bryant, their 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, and seven other people, Vanessa Bryant settled her remaining claims with Los Angeles County for $28.85 million. The $15 million that Vanessa Bryant had previously been given by a jury during her trial in federal court in August 2022 was included in the settlement.

“Today marks the successful culmination of Mrs. Bryant’s courageous battle to hold accountable those who engaged in this grotesque conduct,” Luis Li, Vanessa Bryant’s attorney, said in a prepared statement. “She fought for her husband, her daughter, and all those in the community whose deceased family were treated with similar disrespect. We hope her victory at trial and this settlement will put an end to this practice.”

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‘Fair and Reasonable’ – Mira Hashmall

The case’s primary attorney for Los Angeles County, Mira Hashmall, described the settlement as “fair and reasonable” and claimed that it “resolves all outstanding issues related to pending legal claims in state court, future claims by the Bryant children, and other costs, with each party responsible for its respective attorneys’ fees.”

A $19,950,000 compensation was given to co-plaintiff Chris Chester, whose wife and daughter perished in the collision. Most of the Los Angeles County sheriff’s and fire department workers shared the crash images, along with several who were playing video games and attending an awards luncheon. Moreover, several of their spouses as well as, in one instance, a bartender at a pub where a deputy was drinking, saw them.

Vanessa Bryant testified during an 11-day trial in August 2022 that learning about the images added to her misery a month after the accident and that she experienced panic attacks when she considered that the pictures may still be available online. On January 26, 2020, Kobe Bryant, Gianna, and seven other people were headed to a kid’s basketball event when the helicopter they were in crashed into hills near Calabasas, west of Los Angeles. All nine passengers on board died. Federal safety experts attributed the tragedy to pilot error.

Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna died in a Helicopter crash in 2020

The immediate reaction worldwide was horror when the chopper crashed into a California hillside early on January 26, 2020, killing Kobe Bryant and the eight other passengers. The helicopter crashed into a hillside owing to cloudy circumstances while en route to Gianna’s basketball game at his Mamba Sports School in Thousand Oaks, California, killing everyone on board.

The pilot Ara Zobayan, the baseball coach at Orange Coast College John Altobelli, his wife Keri, and their daughter Alyssa, Christina Mauser, who assisted Bryant in coaching his daughter’s basketball team, Sarah Chester, and her daughter Payton were also killed in the crash. Gianna was a teammate of Alyssa and Payton.

Bryant, one of the best basketball players in NBA history, won five NBA championships while playing for the Los Angeles Lakers during the course of his 20-year career. Bryant won four All-Star MVP honors and was chosen for 18 NBA All-Star Games among his many other accomplishments. In 2008, he was also named the league’s MVP overall.

Basketball players and fans from all across the country and the world were horrified by the catastrophe. Several memorial services were conducted in honor of Bryant, his daughter, and the other victims of the accident.

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