A federal jury found Wednesday that Los Angeles County must pay Vanessa Bryant $16 million over photos of Kobe Bryant's body at the site of the 2020 helicopter crash that resulted in his death.
LOS ANGELES -- A federal jury found Wednesday that Los Angeles County must pay Kobe Bryant's widow $16 million for emotional distress caused by deputies and firefighters sharing photos of the bodies of the NBA star and his daughter taken at the site of the 2020 helicopter crash that killed them.
Vanessa Bryant tearfully testified during the 11-day trial that news of the photos compounded her still-raw grief a month after losing her husband and daughter, and that she still has panic attacks at the thought that they might still be out there. Vanessa Bryant's attorneys did not give jurors a dollar amount they thought their client deserved, but Chester's attorney gave them suggested guidelines that would have meant tens of millions for each plaintiff.