Madison Kwiecinski

News Editor

Mvk5945@psu.edu 

It has now been over a year since Vanessa Bryant lost her husband, Kobe Bryant, and her daughter Gianna in a plane crash. Bryant is still engaged in a roaring legal battle with Los Angeles County due to claimed emotional stress caused by LA County police and fire department employees who took gruesome and graphic photographs of the crash site where nine people lost their lives in January of last year. 

On Tuesday, November 2nd LA County agreed to pay $2.5 million to two families who lost relatives in the helicopter crash as a settlement to the two lawsuits that had been filed by the families. The lawsuits were brought on by the Altobelli and Mauser families, which alleged emotional distress over the graphic photos taken from the scene, similarly to Bryant’s lawsuit. 

If the settlement is approved by the judge, it will pay $1.25 million to Matthew Mauser, who lost his wife in the crash. The remaining $1.25 million will be shared by J.J. Altobelli and Alexis Altobelli, siblings who lost their mother and father, as well as their 14-year-old sister. 

The settlements are “reasonable and fair to all concerned,” said Skip Miller, an attorney representing LA county. “We are pleased that the Mauser and Altobelli families, who as private citizens suffered the same grief and loss as others, will be able to move forward after these settlements. We also hope that eventually the other families will be able to do the same.”

Vanessa Bryant’s lawsuit is still ongoing. The photos were not taken as a part of the investigation, and Bryant had been personally promised the area would be secured and no photos would be taken. 

LA county requested Vanessa Bryant go through a psychiatric evaluation to determine if her emotional stress stemmed from the actual photos that were taken, or if her distress originated from the crash itself where she lost her daughter and husband. On Monday, November 1st, U.S. Magistrate Judge Charles F. Eick said that the county’s motion to compel an investigation was “untimely” and that she would not have to undergo it. 

According to the lawsuits, the photographs were shared by a deputy trainee with some patrons of a bar and by a firefighter with a group of their off-duty colleagues. Bryant’s lawsuit states that first responders, including sheriff’s deputies as well as firefighters, shared photographs of Kobe Bryant’s body and passed around “gratuitous photos of the dead children, parents and coaches.” The county’s attorneys have argued that Vanesse Bryant cannot have suffered emotional distress from photos she has never seen, but these photos do exist when Bryant was promised they would not.

“Emotional distress means that not only do I have to grieve to the loss of my husband and child, but for the rest of my life I’m going to have to fear that these photographs of my husband and child will be leaked,” said Vannessa Bryant during a deposition. 

LA county had originally planned to require not only Bryant but other family members of those who were killed in the crash, including children, to undergo the psychiatric evaluation to determine the cause of distress. The judge will not be allowing this, and the judge ruled previously that the county sheriff and fire chief must also provide depositions. County officials of this level do not typically give depositions to avoid taking all of their time, but in this case the judge has ruled they will, but will be limited to four years. 

The psychiatric evaluation would not have discredited Bryant’s lawsuit though, as emotional distress is not the only form of damages for which she is suing. Bryant’s full list of damages she is seeking include “negligence, invasion of privacy, and intentional infliction of emotional distress,” so despite never having seen the photos there are multiple grounds for the lawsuit. 

Vannessa Bryant recounted that on the day of the crash she called Sheriff Alex Villanueva, who confirmed the deaths of Kobe and Gianna. Villanueva confirmed the deaths and asked if there was anything he could do for her. Bryant stated, “If you can’t bring my husband and baby back, please make sure no one takes photographs of them. Please secure the area.” The sheriff stepped away from the phone for a moment, and then confirmed to Bryant the area was secure and under an umbrella. 

Bryant has discussed that she recovered all of her husband and child’s belongings from the crash that were possible, as she did not want anyone photographing their things or taking their belongings. Bryant has talked about how she does not understand how anyone could do this, looking at even just the damage from the items recovered from the crash. She has their clothes, and has said, “if their clothes represent the condition of their bodies, I cannot imagine how someone could be so callous and have no regard for them or our friends, and just share the images as if they were animals on a street.” 

Bryant’s lawyers are seeking justice and accountability through this lawsuit, as no grieving families deserve to go through this. Bryant has stated that she wants accountability for what has occurred, and for what her and her children have to go through. 

As of now the case is expected to see trial in february 2022. Bryant is seeking compensatory and punitive damages in the trials.