The civil lawsuit filed by Vanessa Bryant against Los Angeles County ran into a problem. LA County wants Bryant, before the case moves to trial, to undergo a psychiatric examination with independent medical examiners in order to determine if her emotional distress is due to the helicopter crash or the leak of photos.
The lawsuit was started by deputies from the LA Sheriff’s Department who shared photos of the helicopter accident with a suburban Los Angeles bartender. Bryant claims that at least 10 LA Sheriff’s Department deputies shared photos of the helicopter crash with a bartender in suburban Los Angeles within two days.
After suffering the loss of her daughter Gianna and Kobe, Bryant is now suing the deputies. The County wants to stop this case from going to trial. They hope that psychiatric tests will show that Bryant’s most severe emotional distress was not caused by what their deputies claimed.
The county’s defense focuses on the fact that Vanessa’s stress resulted primarily from the helicopter accident and had little to no to do with the misconduct of the deputies. The county claimed that Vanessa was not suffering from distress due to accident site photos they had never seen and that were never made public.
Already, the Sheriff’s department has been facing more than 100 lawsuits in just one year. These include civil rights violations and unlawful searches. All settlements reached by the county are funded directly by taxpayer dollars.
