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Vanessa Bryant settled her remaining claims with Los Angeles County for $28.85 million over the photos agents shared after the 2020 helicopter crash that killed her husband, the former star of Los Angeles LakersKobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven other people.
The settlement included the $15 million a jury has already awarded to Vanessa Bryant after a federal court trial in August 2022.
“Today marks the successful culmination of Ms. 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 was treated with similar disrespect. We hope her trial victory and this settlement will put an end to this practice.”
Mira Hashmall, the lead attorney representing Los Angeles County in the case, called the settlement “fair and reasonable” and said it “resolves all outstanding issues related to legal claims pending in state court, future claims of the children Bryant and other costs, each party being responsible for their respective attorneys’ fees.”
Co-plaintiff Chris Chester, whose wife and daughter also died in the crash, was awarded a $19,950,000 settlement.
Photos of the crash were shared primarily among employees of the Los Angeles County fire and sheriff’s departments, including some who were playing video games and attending an awards banquet. They were also seen by some of their spouses and in one case by a bartender at a bar where a deputy was drinking.
During an 11-day trial in August 2022, Vanessa Bryant testified that news of the photos exacerbated her grief a month after the accident and that she had panic attacks at the thought that the photos might still be there.
Kobe Bryant was traveling with Gianna and seven others to a youth basketball game when the helicopter they were traveling in crashed into the Calabasas hills west of Los Angeles on January 26, 2020. All nine people on board were killed.
Federal safety officials blamed pilot error for the crash.