As a result of her lawsuit against Los Angeles County over the auctioning of Kobe Bryant helicopter crash site pictures, Vanessa Bryant has big plans for her $16 million settlement.
Vanessa announced that she plans to donate the money to the Mamba & Mambacita Sports Foundation, “to shine a light on Kobe and Gigi’s legacy,” Mamba & Mambacita Sports Foundation was established by Kobe Bryant in 2016 and was renamed in 2020 after Kobe and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna were killed in a helicopter crash. It is dedicated to providing funding and sports programming to underserved athletes.
On Wednesday, a federal jury ordered Los Angeles Country to pay a total of $31 million to Vanessa after an 11-day trial. Together with a man who lost his daughter and wife in the crash for the distress caused by the photos taken and shared of the crash victims’ bodies.
He added that Bryant “never faltered, even when the county attempted to force her to submit to an involuntary psychiatric examination.”
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The lead outside counsel for LA County, Mira Hashmall, explained that while the jury did not believe that the county was liable for any of the injuries suffered by Bryant and Chester, it awarded them $25 million in damages for emotional distress. She said that the jury’s decision showed that jurors did not believe the evidence supported their requests for $75 million for emotional distress. Hashmall added that she hopes Bryant and Chester’s families continue to heal from their tragic loss.
The jury’s verdict, in this case, was coincidentally given on Mamba Day, a day honoring the legendary Los Angeles Lakers player’s two jersey numbers, 8 and 24. Bryant celebrated the fortuitous timing of her victory on Instagram, sharing a selfie of herself, Kobe, and Gianna smiling broadly at the camera and writing in the caption: “All for you! I love you! Justice for Kobe and Gigi! #Betonyourself #MambaDay 8•24•22 #MambaMentality.
In the months after the crash, lawyers for Vanessa and Chester documented how photos of their clients had circulated from the phones of deputies and firefighters at the scene of the crash on a steep hillside in Calabasas: they were flashed from a sheriff’s deputy’s phone screen to a bartender in Norwalk; they were shown to firefighters and their spouses during an awards gala at a hotel in Universal City.
Sources: Los Angeles Times
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