Vanessa Bryant and her counsel have unified in their belief that the images breached her privacy and caused mental anguish.
LOS ANGELES: Vanessa Bryant and her counsel have unified their belief that the images breached her privacy and caused mental anguish. She sobbed quietly as it was read to her.
The jury deliberated for 4 1/2 hours before deciding on Kobe Bryant Day, which is observed in Los Angeles on August 24 because it represents his jersey numbers — 8 and 24 — and is the day after his birthday. On Tuesday, he would have turned 44.
Vanessa Bryant shared an Instagram photo of herself with her husband and children following the judgement.
“All for you!” the caption stated. “I love you! JUSTICE for Kobe and Gigi!”
Vanessa Bryant testified bitterly during the 11-day trial that learning about the images added to her still-raw grief a month after losing her husband and daughter and that she now gets panic attacks at the possibility that they are still out there.
“I live in fear every day of being on social media and these popping up,” she stated. “I live in fear of my daughters being on social media and these popping up.”
Chris Chester, whose wife and daughter was among the nine persons who died in the collision, was also granted $15 million.
“We’re grateful for a jury and a judge who gave us a fair trial,” Jerry Jackson, Chester’s lawyer, stated
Vanessa Bryant’s counsel did not tell jurors how much money they thought their client deserved, but Chester’s attorney provided standards that would have resulted in tens of millions of dollars for each plaintiff.
Outside of court on Wednesday, Vanessa Bryant and her counsel declined to comment. As she walked through TV cameras and hundreds of reporters to get into an SUV, her face was still covered with tears.
Vanessa Bryant’s attorney, Luis Li, told jurors that the close-up images served no official or investigative purpose and were “visual gossip” exchanged out of morbid curiosity.
During the trial, county attorney J. Mira Hashmall contended that the images were required for assessing the situation.
She admitted that they shouldn’t have been shown to everyone who saw them. However, she highlighted that the images had never been made public and had never even been seen by the plaintiffs. She said that Sheriff Alex Villanueva and other officials had taken decisive and effective action by ordering individuals possessing the images to remove them.
On January 26, 2020, Kobe Bryant, the former Lakers player, five-time NBA champion, and member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, was traveling with Gianna and seven others to a kids basketball game when their chopper crashed into hills in Calabasas, west of Los Angeles.
The tragedy was blamed on pilot error, according to federal safety experts.
