Photo: Rich Fury/WireImage
A California judge has denied Los Angeles County’s request to dismissVanessa Bryant’s lawsuitagainst them over her claim that photos taken at her husband Kobe Bryant’s helicopter crash site on Jan. 26, 2020, were leaked.
Walter added that his role as a judge is not “to weigh the evidence and determine the truth of the matter but to determine whether there is a genuine issue for trial.”
Bryant, 39, is seeking damages for emotional distress and mental anguish aftereight L.A. County Sheriff’s Department deputies allegedly took graphic photographsof the victims and shared them with unauthorized people. Kobe, 41, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna as well as 13-year-oldPayton Chester, Sarah Chester, 46, 14-year-oldAlyssa Altobelli,Keri Altobelli, 46,John Altobelli, 56,Christina Mauser, 38, and pilotAra Zobayan, 50, were all killed.
Attorneys for Los Angeles County said in response to this week’s ruling that “we respectfully disagree.”
“The county did not cause Ms. Bryant’s loss and, as was promised on the day of the crash, none of the county’s accident site photos were ever publicly disseminated,” Skip Miller, partner at the Miller Barondess law firm and outside counsel for L.A. County, told PEOPLE in a statement. “The county did its job and looks forward to showing that at trial.”
Though attorneys for Bryant did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment, they toldCNN, “We look forward to presenting the facts to a jury.”
Los Angeles County issued their request to have Bryant’s lawsuit dismissed in November.
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In the November filing, the county called Bryant’s “fear” of the alleged leaked photos surfacing in the future “not reasonable,” arguing that they cannot be sued for “hypothetical harm.”
Vanessa Bryant.ESPN
In March 2020, Sheriff Alex Villanuevaconfirmed to reportersthat only the county coroner’s office and investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board were permitted to photograph the crash scene.
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department traineedeputy Joey Cruz"showed accident site photos to a single friend. His phone did not leave his hand, and the photos did not leave his phone," the county acknowledged in the November filing. However, the county claimed: “Because the photos were not shown to ‘the public at large’ and their content is not ‘of public knowledge,’ the ‘public disclosure’ element for invasion of privacy has not been met.” (Cruz was suspended for 10 days; his involvement had previously been confirmed.)
In an Oct. 12 deposition as part of the case, the mother of four said that she is “traumatized, has trouble sleeping and is depressed for ‘many’ reasons,” adding, “The impact of the helicopter crash was so damaging, I just don’t understand how someone can have no regard for life and compassion, and, instead, choose to take that opportunity to photograph lifeless and helpless individuals for their own sick amusement.”
Attorneys for Bryant have also previously said she hopes for accountability with the lawsuit so that “no one ever has to deal with this conduct in the future.”
The trial is set to begin in February 2022.
source: people.com
