BELOW SUPERNAV drop zone ⇩

Kobe’s widow won’t have to undergo mental exam in lawsuit, judge rules

Kobe Bryant’s wife Vanessa Bryant speaks during the “Celebration of Life for Kobe and Gianna Bryant” service at Staples Center in Downtown Los Angeles on February 24, 2020. – Kobe Bryant, 41, and 13-year-old Gianna were among nine people killed in a helicopter crash in the rugged hills west of Los Angeles on January 26. (Photo by FREDERIC J. BROWN / AFP)

MAIN AREA TOP drop zone ⇩

MAIN AREA TOP drop zone ⇩

ovp test

mLife Diagnostics LLC: Oral Fluid Drug Testing

Male shot by female at Shreveport apartment

Class to create biodiverse backyard

Rules for outbursts at Caddo School Board Meeting

BE - Test Share

More Sports

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kobe Bryant’s widow won’t have to undergo psychiatric testing for her lawsuit over graphic photos of the 2020 helicopter crash that killed the basketball star, her 13-year-old daughter and others, a federal judge ruled Monday.

Los Angeles County sought to compel psychiatric evaluations for Vanessa Bryant and others to determine if they truly suffered emotional distress over photos of the crash scene and bodies that her lawsuit said were taken and shared by county sheriff’s deputies and firefighters.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Charles F. Eick said that the county’s motion to compel an evaluation was untimely. Bryant’s invasion-of-privacy lawsuit is scheduled to begin in February.

Kobe Bryant, daughter Gianna and seven others were killed Jan. 26, 2020, when the helicopter they were aboard, on their way to a girls basketball tournament, crashed in the hills west of Los Angeles amid foggy weather. Federal safety officials blamed pilot error for the wreck.

Bryant’s lawsuit contends first responders, including firefighters and sheriff’s deputies, shared photographs of Kobe Bryant’s body with a bartender and passed around “gratuitous photos of the dead children, parents and coaches.”

Bryant, in a deposition, had said that, “For the rest of my life I’m going to have to fear that these photographs of my husband and child will be leaked.”

The judge last week said the county sheriff and fire chief must give depositions in the case.

Attorneys for the county had argued that Bryant had never seen the photographs and they weren’t shared publicly and wanted to determine whether she truly had suffered emotional distress.

They had sought to require Bryant and other family members of the people who were killed in the crash, including children, to undergo psychiatric evaluations as independent medical examinations.

West

Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed

Site Settings Survey

 

MAIN AREA MIDDLE drop zone ⇩

Trending on NewsNation

MAIN AREA BOTTOM drop zone ⇩

tt

KC Chiefs parade shooting: 1 dead, 21 shot including 9 kids | Morning in America

Witness of Chiefs parade shooting describes suspect | Banfield

Kansas City Chiefs parade shooting: Mom of 2 dead, over 20 shot | Banfield

WWE star Ashley Massaro 'threatened' by board to keep quiet about alleged rape: Friend | Banfield

Friend of WWE star: Ashley Massaro 'spent hours' sobbing after alleged rape | Banfield

Clear

la

53°F Clear Feels like 53°
Wind
3 mph N
Humidity
57%
Sunrise
Sunset

Tonight

Clear skies. Low 51F. Winds light and variable.
51°F Clear skies. Low 51F. Winds light and variable.
Wind
2 mph NE
Precip
1%
Sunset
Moon Phase
Waxing Gibbous