Kobe Bryant’s Family Awarded $29 Million in Invasion of Privacy Lawsuit

Flowers and pictures are seen as fans gather for a memorial to late Kobe Bryant, who perished alongside his daughter and seven others when their helicopter crashed into a hillside near Los Angeles, outside the Staples Center in Los Angeles, Calif., on Jan. 26, 2021. Lucy Nicholson/Reuters

Los Angeles County will pay late Kobe Bryant’s wife nearly $29 million in a settlement of a lawsuit over the inappropriate sharing of gruesome photographs of the crash that killed Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter.

Members of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Office and firefighters were accused in the lawsuit of sharing close-up gruesome pictures of the crash in unofficial settings, including in a bar.

Kobe Bryant’s wife, Vanessa Bryant, sued over this, characterizing it as a violation of privacy and a cause of emotional distress.

“Today marks the successful culmination of Mrs. Bryant’s courageous battle to hold accountable those who engaged in this grotesque conduct,” said Luis Li, attorney for Vanessa Bryant. “She fought for her husband, her daughter, and all those in the community whose deceased family were treated with similar disrespect.”

Li confirmed that the settlement was for $28.85 million. This includes the $15 million a jury in federal court granted to Vanessa Bryant in August.

Vanessa Bryant (C), the widow of Kobe Bryant, leaves a federal courthouse in Los Angeles on Aug. 10, 2022. Jae C. Hong/AP Photo

Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna, and seven other people died in the crash in Calabasas, California, on Jan. 26, 2020.

Bryant was 41 when he died. The Los Angeles Lakers great and 18-time All-Star won five NBA championships and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2020.

Mira Hashmall, an attorney representing the county in the case, told the Los Angeles Times that the settlement was “fair and reasonable.”

She added that it resolves “all outstanding issues related to pending legal claims in state court, future claims by the Bryant children, and other costs, with each party responsible for its respective attorneys’ fees.”

Vanessa Bryant said in the court hearing in August that she felt like she “wanted to run, run down the block and scream,” upon learning of the inappropriate sharing of the photographs.

“I bolted out of the house and around to the side so my girls wouldn’t see,” she said. “I was blindsided again, devastated, hurt. I trusted them. I trusted them not to do these things,” she added.

No photos emerged publicly, but Vanessa Bryant said she has the constant worry that some still might.

“I live in fear every day of being on social media and these popping up,” she testified. “I live in fear of my daughters being on social media and these popping up.”

She said the thought keeps her awake at night as she lies next to her 3-year-old and her 5-year-old, and sometimes leads to panic attacks in which she can’t breathe.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.