Los Angeles County wants Vanessa Bryant and other family members to submit to psychiatric examinations as part of the ongoing court process centered on a lawsuit that was filed in 2020.
Per USA Today, the county asked for Vanessa and other family members to submit to the exams, They are arguing that any emotional distress argued in the lawsuit is due to the fatal January 2020 helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant and 13-year-old daughter Gianna, as well as other passengers.
Basically, the county is saying that the crash alone caused the distresss, not the cops sharing photos of their dead bodies.
“The county of Los Angeles is trying to force the widow of Kobe Bryant and other surviving family members of a fatal helicopter crash last year to submit to psychiatric examinations that could help the county prove a critical point in their legal dispute:,” wrote Brent Schrotenboer of USA Today.
“Did Vanessa Bryant and the others suffer emotional distress because photos of their dead relatives were shared by county fire and sheriff’s department employees after the crash?
“In a court filing Friday, the county noted that Bryant and other surviving family plaintiffs are suing the county for tens of millions of dollars based solely on their claimed ‘severe emotional distress.’ ‘ The county’s position is that their distress was not caused by county employees or any accident site photos it says ‘were never publicly disseminated.’
“‘Despite putting their mental condition front and center in this case, Plaintiffs refuse to submit to independent medical examinations (IMEs),’ the county stated. ‘The County brings this motion to compel IMEs of the Plaintiffs, which are necessary to evaluate the existence, extent and nature of Plaintiffs’ alleged emotional injuries. Plaintiffs cannot claim that they are suffering from ongoing depression, anxiety and severe emotional distress and then balk at having to support their claims.’”
Vanessa Bryant filed a lawsuit seeking damages for negligence, privacy invasion, and the intentional infliction of emotional distress in connection with crash site photos.
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Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna and seven others were killed in the incident in January of 2020. It was then and still is one of the most shocking things that to have ever brought the entire world to a complete stop.
