(Transatlantic Today)-LOS ANGELES, California (Transatlantic Today) – According to ABC Los Angeles affiliate KABC, a jury granted Vanessa Bryant a $16 million verdict in her privacy invasion lawsuit against Los Angeles County over pictures taken at the site of the 2020 helicopter accident that killed her husband, basketball legend Kobe Bryant, and their 13-year-old daughter.
According to ABC7, the jury also decided to grant $15 million to Chris Chester, a financial advisor from Orange County who had previously sued the county over pictures of his wife and daughter who had died in the same tragedy.
Before reaching a verdict, the jury deliberated over the case for a long time.
“All for you! I love you! JUSTICE for Kobe and Gigi!” After the decision, Vanessa Bryant wrote on Instagram.
On August 10, the federal trial officially began, and the jury heard testimony from law enforcement officials, emergency personnel, and the victims’ families, including Chester and Vanessa Bryant. After roughly 2 weeks of testimony, the attorneys delivered final arguments on Tuesday and Wednesday.
A few months after the 2020 crash, Vanessa Bryant sued Los Angeles County, claiming that emergency personnel had shared gruesome pictures of human remains they had taken at the site as “souvenirs” with others. She claimed to have experienced emotional distress and filed a lawsuit for negligence and privacy invasion for an unknown sum of money in damages.
U.S. District Judge John Walter made the decision to combine Chester and Vanessa Bryant’s lawsuits into a single trial in July.
On January 26, 2020, the helicopter flying Kobe Bryant and their daughter, Gianna, as well as others associated with the basketball programme, crashed in Calabasas when they were en route to a basketball match at his Mamba Sports Academy in Thousand Oaks. All 9 passengers on board died.
On Friday, Vanessa Bryant testified in a federal courtroom in Los Angeles, telling the jury that she wants “justice for my husband and my daughter” and that she always fears the pictures will be released.
On Thursday, Chester testified in court, telling the jury that when he first learned that firemen and deputies had taken and shared pictures of his wife Sarah and daughter Payton, 13, he was in “disbelief.”
The defense insisted throughout the proceedings that the pictures haven’t appeared online since the incident. Several county sheriffs and firefighters have also testified that they erased any photos of the accident site that were on their phones.
The legal claims made by Chester and Vanessa Bryant contend that the pictures were distributed before emergency personnel removed them.
The jury was told that they may find either the county sheriff’s office or the fire department to be responsible, or both, and that Chester Bryant or Vanessa Bryant, or both, were entitled to warranted damages.
