Vanessa Bryant, LA County Reach $28.9 Million Settlement Over Kobe Helicopter Crash Photos

Vanessa Bryant, the widow of NBA superstar Kobe Bryant, has agreed to a $28.85 million settlement with Los Angeles County over photos taken at the helicopter crash that killed her husband, her daughter Gianna Bryant and seven other people.

Bryant sued the county, saying that first responders photographed human remains as tradable "souvenirs" of the helicopter crash on a hillside in Calabasas, California, on Jan. 26, 2020.

"Today marks the successful culmination of Mrs. Bryant's courageous battle to hold accountable those who engaged in this grotesque conduct," Bryant's attorney Luis Li said in a statement to CNN. "She fought for her husband, her daughter, and all those in the community whose deceased family were treated with similar disrespect. We hope her victory at trial and this settlement will put an end to this practice."

The figure reportedly included a newly agreed-upon payment from the county of $13.5 million as well as the $15 million previously awarded by a federal jury to Bryant in August 2022.

That month, a federal jury found the Los Angeles County Sheriff's and Fire departments guilty of infringing on the constitutional rights of Bryant and her co-plaintiff Chris Chester for taking and sharing photos of the helicopter crash.

At the time, the verdict in Bryant's favor was erroneously read as $16 million in court, but it was later amended to $15 million.

Mira Hashmall, the lead trial counsel for Los Angeles County in the case, said that all county-related litigation from the crash had been resolved.

"We hope Ms. Bryant and her children continue to heal from their loss," Hashmall said in a statement to CNN.

Chester, whose wife and daughter also died in the crash, separately settled with the county for nearly $20 million, the BBC reported.

The photos in question did not just include the wreckage, but also close-up images of the victims' bodies. Bryant said that four sheriff's deputies distributed "gratuitous photos of the dead children, parents, and coaches."

The plaintiffs said that the photos of their loved ones caused emotional distress and violated their privacy.

Bryant said during the trial last August that she still has panic attacks at the thought that photos of her husband and her daughter might still be out on the internet and that her daughters might someday see them online.