{"id":55429,"date":"2022-08-24T23:48:31","date_gmt":"2022-08-24T23:48:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/vanessa-bryant-jury-awards-plaintiffs-31m-in-lawsuit-over-kobe-bryant-crash-photos\/"},"modified":"2022-08-24T23:48:31","modified_gmt":"2022-08-24T23:48:31","slug":"vanessa-bryant-jury-awards-plaintiffs-31m-in-lawsuit-over-kobe-bryant-crash-photos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/vanessa-bryant-jury-awards-plaintiffs-31m-in-lawsuit-over-kobe-bryant-crash-photos\/","title":{"rendered":"Vanessa Bryant: Jury awards plaintiffs $31M in lawsuit over Kobe Bryant crash photos"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A federal jury awarded $31 million in damages after finding Los Angeles County liable for infringing on the constitutional rights of Vanessa Bryant and co-plaintiff Christopher Chester, who each lost a spouse and daughter in the helicopter crash in January 2020.<\/p>\n<p><strong>[Previous story, published at 7:22 p.m. ET]<\/strong><\/p>\n<div data-paragraph-id=\"paragraph_0F4E4167-A2E3-4599-3193-D21C7315DDE3\">A verdict has been reached in the federal civil suit against the Los Angeles County Sheriff and Fire Departments over graphic photos taken of the helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna, and seven others.<\/div>\n<p>After listening to 11 days of at times graphic testimony, a group of nine federal judges deliberated for approximately three and a half hours before reaching their decision.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"zn-body__paragraph\" data-paragraph-id=\"paragraph_FEFD022F-5DFA-E960-1BD2-D1450E25B81B\">The deliberations began shortly after an attorney for Los Angeles County argued that the trial is a &#8220;pictures case with no pictures,&#8221; noting that the gruesome photos of human remains have never actually been seen by the public &#8212; or even the plaintiffs, Vanessa Bryant and Christopher Chester.<\/div>\n<p>&#8220;No pictures is good. No pictures means no public dissemination&#8230; no risk of other people making mistakes,&#8221; county attorney Mira Hashmall said in closing arguments of the trial.<\/p>\n<p>In an emotional rebuttal, Bryant&#8217;s attorney Luis Li argued Wednesday the actions of the county in taking such photos were reckless and inhumane and caused emotional distress.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;They poured salt into an unhealable wound and that&#8217;s why we&#8217;re all here today,&#8221; he said. <\/p>\n<div class=\"zn-body__paragraph\" data-paragraph-id=\"paragraph_15CCDE61-6739-0D1F-8021-D106AF1997E1\">The trial against LA county, the Sheriff&#8217;s Department, Fire Department and others is centered on photos of human remains taken after the helicopter crash that killed NBA star Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna, Chester&#8217;s wife Sarah and his daughter Payton and five others in January 2020 .<\/div>\n<div class=\"zn-body__paragraph\" data-paragraph-id=\"paragraph_48FA1294-BFA9-B9F8-7B0E-D11ADBB6B416\">The National Transportation Safety Board determined the helicopter pilot pushed the limits of bad weather flying rules before he crashed into a hillside in Calabasas, California.<\/div>\n<div class=\"el__embedded el__embedded--standard\">\n<div class=\"el__storyelement--standard el__article--embed\">\n<div class=\"el__article--teaseimage\"><noscript><img alt=\"Vanessa Bryant tests that she suffers panic attacks, anxiety since learning of shared crash scene photos\" class=\"media__image\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cdn.cnn.com\/cnnnext\/dam\/assets\/220810201858-vanessa-bryant-aug-10-large-169.jpg?ssl=1\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\"\/><\/noscript><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Vanessa Bryant and Christopher Chester have argued that the taking and sharing of those photos caused emotional distress and violated their constitutional rights.  Their attorneys asked the jury for damages of up to $42.5 million for Bryant and $32.5 million for Chester.  Los Angeles County, though, has argued that it acted appropriately to investigate and delete the photos and prevent them from ever spreading.<\/p>\n<p>Witnesses during the trial included a deputy who said he showed graphic images from the scene while at a bar, another deputy who said he shared photos while playing a video game, a deputy who sent dozens of photos to someone he didn&#8217;t know, and a fire official who showed the images to other personnel during an awards ceremony cocktail hour.<\/p>\n<div class=\"zn-body__paragraph\" data-paragraph-id=\"paragraph_B6ABDCA5-8849-5D32-AB24-D11E10DAE1E6\">In September 2020, California Gov.  Gavin Newsom signed an invasion-of-privacy bill called the &#8220;Kobe Bryant Act&#8221; that makes it illegal for first responders to share photos of a dead person at a crime scene &#8220;for any purpose other than an official law enforcement purpose.&#8221;  The misdemeanor crime is punishable by up to $1,000 per violation.<\/div>\n<p>Coincidentally, Los Angeles has named Wednesday, August 24, as &#8220;Kobe Bryant Day&#8221; to honor the Los Angeles Lakers star&#8217;s two jersey numbers, 8 and 24, that he wore during his NBA career.  The Lakers have retired both numbers.<\/p>\n<p><h3>Defense asks to separate emotions from legality<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<p>In closing arguments Wednesday, attorneys for Los Angeles County sought to separate Vanessa Bryant&#8217;s emotional testimony from the legal issues the jury must consider.<\/p>\n<p>Hashmall argued the county&#8217;s actions to delete the photos resulted in them never being distributed publicly, and she argued further that first responders taking photos did not violate Bryant&#8217;s rights.<\/p>\n<p>She urged the jury to consider the law, which only allows for a verdict against the county if it can be proven county policies were deficient enough to prevent the spread of the photos or if there is a longstanding custom of such behavior within the sheriff and fire departments. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;If the county didn&#8217;t take (the photo sharing) seriously, why is this whole case based on the county&#8217;s investigation?&#8221;  she said.<\/p>\n<p>Jurors also will have to wrestle with what constitutes &#8220;the public&#8221; in this case.  The plaintiffs argued any deputy without an investigatory reason to have the photos should be considered the public.  One of the deputies shared photos containing human remains with another deputy as they were playing the video game &#8220;Call of Duty,&#8221; and another showed them to a bartender he considered a friend.<\/p>\n<p>Hashmall agreed that was wrong, but asked the jury to consider whether it &#8220;shocked the conscience,&#8221; a legal threshold the jury must consider in rendering its verdict.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Does it shock the conscience that he needed to talk?&#8221;  Hashmall asked.  She also noted that the deputy was disciplined for his actions.  &#8220;That&#8217;s not a constitutional issue, that&#8217;s a county issue,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<div class=\"el__embedded el__embedded--standard\">\n<div class=\"el__storyelement--standard el__article--embed\">\n<div class=\"el__article--teaseimage\"><img class=\"media__image media__image--responsive\" alt=\"Jury selected in Vanessa Bryant's case against LA County over photos of Kobe's helicopter crash\" src-mini=\"\/\/cdn.cnn.com\/cnnnext\/dam\/assets\/211116084335-vanessa-bryant-file-small-169.jpg\" src-xsmall=\"\/\/cdn.cnn.com\/cnnnext\/dam\/assets\/211116084335-vanessa-bryant-file-medium-plus-169.jpg\" src-small=\"\/\/cdn.cnn.com\/cnnnext\/dam\/assets\/211116084335-vanessa-bryant-file-large-169.jpg\" src-medium=\"\/\/cdn.cnn.com\/cnnnext\/dam\/assets\/211116084335-vanessa-bryant-file-exlarge-169.jpg\" src-large=\"\/\/cdn.cnn.com\/cnnnext\/dam\/assets\/211116084335-vanessa-bryant-file-super-169.jpg\" src-full16x9=\"\/\/cdn.cnn.com\/cnnnext\/dam\/assets\/211116084335-vanessa-bryant-file-full-169.jpg\" src-mini1x1=\"\/\/cdn.cnn.com\/cnnnext\/dam\/assets\/211116084335-vanessa-bryant-file-small-11.jpg\" data-demand-load=\"not-loaded\" data-eq-pts=\"mini: 0, xsmall: 221, small: 308, medium: 461, large: 781\" bad-src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhEAAJAJEAAAAAAP\/\/\/\/\/\/\/wAAACH5BAEAAAIALAAAAAAQAAkAAAIKlI+py+0Po5yUFQA7\"\/><noscript><img alt=\"Jury selected in Vanessa Bryant's case against LA County over photos of Kobe's helicopter crash\" class=\"media__image\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cdn.cnn.com\/cnnnext\/dam\/assets\/211116084335-vanessa-bryant-file-large-169.jpg?ssl=1\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\"\/><\/noscript><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>In their rebuttal, Bryant&#8217;s attorneys argued the photos could still exist because one of the deputies AirDropped them to a firefighter that hasn&#8217;t been identified.  They also argue the county inadequately investigated the incident, which has allowed for photos of human remains to potentially surface.<\/p>\n<p>The rebuttal evoked tears from Vanessa Bryant and Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka in the courtroom.  Li, Bryant&#8217;s attorney, said the jury&#8217;s decision is &#8220;important to families throughout the United States who might suffer a tragedy someday.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Referring to testimony given by veteran law enforcement officials including Sheriff Alex Villanueva, Li reminded the jury of a practice of first responders keeping &#8220;death books&#8221; since the Polaroid was around.  Li said to the jury: &#8220;This has been going on for decades. Make it stop.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Vanessa Bryant cried audibly and grabbed tissues when Li stated that photos of family members&#8217; bodies torn apart are private and should not be shared with deputies just &#8220;because they&#8217;re wearing a badge the next morning, to offer [the photos] to their wife.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>In describing how deputies had to have gone out of their way to find Gianna Bryant&#8217;s remains in a ravine to photograph her, Li asked, &#8220;Does that shock the conscience?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Li said that while there is no jury form to check a box for better training, better policies, or more discipline, there is only a box jurors can check for damages: &#8220;Whatever you put in that box will serve to shine a light on the legacy of Kobe and Gianna Bryant.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Li concluded with applauding the two whistleblowers, one of whom sat in the courtroom.  Li was emotional as he said: &#8220;But for those people, we may never have heard of this.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>CNN&#8217;s Cheri Mossburg contributed to this report.<\/p>\n<p>  .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A federal jury awarded $31 million in damages after finding Los Angeles County liable for infringing on the constitutional rights of Vanessa Bryant and co-plaintiff Christopher Chester, who each lost a spouse and daughter in the helicopter crash in January 2020. [Previous story, published at 7:22 p.m. ET] A verdict has been reached in the &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/vanessa-bryant-jury-awards-plaintiffs-31m-in-lawsuit-over-kobe-bryant-crash-photos\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Vanessa Bryant: Jury awards plaintiffs $31M in lawsuit over Kobe Bryant crash photos<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[6],"tags":[845,20653],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":55777,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/kobe-bryant-crash-photos-trial-jury-finds-la-county-must-pay-vanessa-bryant-16-million-and-chris-chester-15-million\/","url_meta":{"origin":55429,"position":0},"title":"Kobe Bryant crash photos trial: Jury finds LA County must pay Vanessa Bryant $16 million and Chris Chester $15 million","date":"August 25, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- A federal jury Wednesday ordered Los Angeles County to pay $31 million in damages over the actions of deputies and firefighters who took and shared gruesome photos from the scene of the 2020 helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven other\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":55952,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/vanessa-bryant-reacts-to-jurys-verdict-in-kobe-bryant-helicopter-crash-site-photos-trial\/","url_meta":{"origin":55429,"position":1},"title":"Vanessa Bryant reacts to jury&#8217;s verdict in Kobe Bryant helicopter crash site photos trial","date":"August 25, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Vanessa Bryant is celebrating the outcome of a civil case over photos of the helicopter crash that killed NBA legend Kobe Bryant, daughter Gianna and seven others in January 2020.A federal jury awarded Vanessa Bryant $16 million on Wednesday after an 11-day civil trial that went into graphic detail about\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":55679,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/jury-awards-vanessa-bryant-16-million-over-crash-photos-taken-of-kobe-bryant-daughter-gianna\/","url_meta":{"origin":55429,"position":2},"title":"Jury awards Vanessa Bryant $16 million over crash photos taken of Kobe Bryant, daughter Gianna","date":"August 25, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"LOS ANGELES -- Kobe Bryant's widow, Vanessa, was awarded $16 million as part of a $31 million jury verdict Wednesday against Los Angeles County for deputies and firefighters sharing grisly photos of the NBA star; their 13-year-old daughter, Gianna; and other victims killed in a 2020 helicopter crash.The nine jurors\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":57854,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/vanessa-bryants-lawsuits-winnings-reduced-by-1-million-after-juror-discovered-error\/","url_meta":{"origin":55429,"position":3},"title":"Vanessa Bryant&#8217;s lawsuits winnings reduced by $1 million after juror discovered error","date":"August 27, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Vanessa Bryant's $16 million verdict in her civil trial against Los Angeles County has been reduced by $1 million after a juror discovered an error.Bryant was initially awarded $16 million in her case after a jury unanimously found Los Angeles County liable for damages following the death of her husband,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":55646,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/vanessa-bryant-awarded-16-million-over-photos-from-kobe-bryant-crash-site\/","url_meta":{"origin":55429,"position":4},"title":"Vanessa Bryant awarded $16 million over photos from Kobe Bryant crash site","date":"August 25, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Comment on this storyCommentLOS ANGELES \u2014 A federal jury awarded Vanessa Bryant, widow of Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant, $16 million on Wednesday, finding that Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies and fire officials had violated the civil rights of the loved ones of Bryant, his daughter Gianna and other\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":56119,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/vanessa-bryant-speaks-out-after-kobe-crash-photos-verdict\/","url_meta":{"origin":55429,"position":5},"title":"Vanessa Bryant speaks out after Kobe crash photos verdict","date":"August 25, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"An emotional Vanessa Bryant has spoken out after being awarded $16 million in her trial against Los Angeles County. On Wednesday, a federal jury gave its verdict after first responders snapped and shared grisly photos of the 2020 helicopter crash that killed Vanessa's husband, Kobe Bryant, their 13-year-old daughter Gianna\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"Vanessa Bryant (3R), wife of the late Los Angeles Lakers basketball player Kobe Bryant, her daughter Natalia Bryant (2L), and close friend Sydney Leroux (2R) depart the court house in Los Angeles, California, on August 24, 2022, after a verdict was reached in Bryant's federal negligence lawsuit against Los Angeles County.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/vanessa-bryant-kobe-lawsuit-justice-05.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cdn.cnn.com\/cnnnext\/dam\/assets\/220819150542-01-vanessa-bryant-court-0819-super-tease.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55429"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55429\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}