Vanessa Bryant awarded $16m in suit over photos of Kobe’s crash

Los Angeles county required to pay basketball star’s widow and her co-plaintiff, whose family was also in the crash

Kobe Bryant’s widow was awarded $16m as part of a $31m jury verdict on Wednesday against Los Angeles county after deputies and firefighters shared grisly photos of the NBA star, his 13-year-old daughter and other victims killed in a 2020 helicopter crash.

The nine jurors who returned the unanimous verdict agreed with Vanessa Bryant and her attorneys that Los Angeles deputies and firefighters taking and sharing photos of the crash victims invaded her privacy and brought her emotional distress, even though the photos did not become public.