Vanessa Bryant Awarded $31 Million Over Kobe Bryant Crash Photo Case

Vanessa Bryant has won her lawsuit against the Los Angeles County Sheriff and Fire Departments over graphic photos taken of the helicopter crash that killed her husband Kobe Bryant, their daughter Gianna and seven others.

After 11 days of testimony, the jury awarded $31 million in damages to Vanessa Bryant and co-plaintiff Christopher Chester, who each lost a spouse and daughter in the helicopter crash in January 2020, CNN reports.

Mira Hashmall, attorney for Los Angeles County argued that the trial was a "pictures case with no pictures," noting that the gruesome photos of human remains have never actually been seen by the public -- or even the plaintiffs, Bryant and Chester. "No pictures is good. No pictures means no public dissemination... no risk of other people making mistakes," Hashmall said in closing arguments of the trial.

Bryant's attorney Luis Li argued Wednesday (August 24) that the actions of the county in taking such photos were reckless and inhumane and caused emotional distress. "They poured salt into an unhealable wound and that's why we're all here today," Li said.

As we , a sheriff’s deputy shared the graphic photos with random people at a bar two days after Kobe and Gianna died in January 2020. “County employees exploited the accident,” Li said during an August 10 hearing. “They took and shared pictures of Kobe and Gianna as souvenirs…They poured salt in an unhealable wound.”

Li added, first responders “walked around the wreckage and took pictures of broken bodies from the helicopter crash. They took close-ups of limbs, of burnt flesh. It shocks the conscience.”

Bryant and Chester have argued that Los Angeles County “invaded their privacy and inflicted emotional distress by not properly containing the spread of the photos which, according to witness testimony, show not just helicopter wreckage but the mangled bodies of the victims." Their attorneys asked the jury for damages of up to $42.5 million for Bryant and $32.5 million for Chester.

In September 2020, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed an invasion-of-privacy bill called the Kobe Bryant Act that makes it illegal for first responders to share photos of a dead person at a crime scene "for any purpose other than an official law enforcement purpose." The misdemeanor crime is punishable by up to $1,000 per violation.

Coincidentally, Los Angeles has named today as "Kobe Bryant Day" to honor the Los Angeles Lakers star's two jersey numbers, 8 and 24, that he wore during his NBA career; the Lakers have retired both numbers.

It still seems surreal that 2 years later, we are even saying  "Kobe Bryant" and "death" in the same sentence. It's hard to grasp that it's now been two full years since a helicopter crash killed Kobe, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, and seven others.

The crash outside of Los Angeles was determined to be because of pilot error, primarily. According to the Associated Press, the National Transportation Safety Board said pilot Ara Zobayan "made a series of poor decisions that led him to fly blindly into a wall of clouds where he became so disoriented he thought he was climbing when the craft was plunging toward a Southern California hillside."

Kobe Bryant was a larger-than-life basketball player, spending his career entirely with the Los Angeles Lakers (he was technically drafted by the Charlotte Hornets, but was traded on draft day to L.A.). And the Hollywood lifestyle played well for Bryant, as he became a 5-time NBA champion, an 18-time NBA All-Star, among a host of other career accomplishments placing him among the greatest players to ever play the game. Who among us hasn't yelled "KOBE!" when throwing a crumpled piece of paper in a trash can?

Off the court, Bryant was instantly recognizable in commercials, TV shows, music and movies. He even won an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film for Dear Basketball. He was not without controversy, as a 2003 sexual assault allegation hurt his reputation. The case was later dropped, and Bryant issued an apology to the victim.

Kobe Bryant was barely into his off-the-court career at the time of his death, but by all accounts was poised to be just as successful as he had been on the court. He had several business ventures already running, with many more in the works.

As we remember Kobe Bryant two years after his untimely death, we look at several of the tributes that continue to pour in for "Mamba."