Vanessa Bryant must turn over therapy records in her lawsuit over photos of the helicopter crash scene where her NBA legend husband Kobe Bryant and their daughter died, a judge ruled Monday.
She is suing Los Angeles County and others over the photos, which she says caused her severe emotional distress and compounded her trauma after the Jan. 26, 2020, crash that killed all nine people aboard.
The suit alleges that photos of the victims’ bodies were passed around, including being shown to a bartender.
On Monday a federal magistrate judge granted a motion by the county, ruling that Bryant must turn over therapy records, according to online court documents.
Skip Miller, outside counsel for Los Angeles County, said earlier this month that the request for records was standard in such cases that claim damages from emotional distress.
An attorney for Bryant did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday night.
Los Angeles County had sought to have Bryant take a psychiatric evaluation as part of the lawsuit, but the judge denied that.
Los Angeles Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant, their 13-year-old daughter Gianna, and seven other people died in the helicopter crash in Calabasas, in northwest Los Angeles County. The pilot, who was among those killed, likely suffered from "spatial disorientation," federal investigators concluded.
