Vanessa Bryant, center, walks out of the Los Angeles courthouse with daughter Natalia and soccer player Sydney Leroux in August 2022 (AP Photo/ Jae C. Hong)
Basketball player Kobe Bryant’s widow, Vanessa Bryant, hit a agreement from 28.85 million dollars (27 million euros) with the county of Los Angeles, in compensation for the photos taken by the police and firefighters at the scene of the accident in which her husband died. Bryant, also known as Vanessa Laine, filed a lawsuit with the Los Angeles County Sheriff and Fire Departments in September 2020: The settlement settles the lawsuit and includes a $15 million settlement that had already been paid. established last August in his favour. It precludes any future claims by both Bryant and her three daughters: Natalia, Bianka and Capri Bryant, aged 20, 6 and 3 respectively.
Kobe Bryant, five-time NBA champion with the Los Angeles Lakers, died at the age of 41 along with his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven other people in a helicopter crash on January 26, 2020. A few months later his wife sued the county claiming that the photos violate the constitutional right to privacy. They depicted the remains of Bryant, his daughter and other dead people up close, and were not circulated in public, only internally among agents. However, Vanessa Bryant has always said she was upset by the idea of the photos being made public.
The settlement was reached after a federal court in August 2022 found the sheriff and fire departments guilty of violating Vanessa Bryant’s constitutional rights, ordering Los Angeles County to pay her $15 million dollars. The county will also pay $15 million to Chris Chester, whose wife and daughter were among those killed in the crash; will pay Chester an additional $4.95 million to avoid future disputes (around €19 million overall).
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