L.A County Asks For Vanessa Bryant’s Therapy Records In Lawsuit Over Leaked Kobe Bryant Crash Pictures
Just shortly after a judge ruled that Kobe Bryant’s widow Vanessa will NOT have to undergo a psychiatric evaluation in her lawsuit against the Los Angeles county, they have now asked a federal judge to order her to produce all therapy records.
According to NBC News citing court documents that were filed Friday, the county said Vanessa Bryant’s therapy records are necessary for its defense against a lawsuit she filed last year that alleges that county employees “showed off” photos of the deadly crash that killed her husband, 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven others on Jan. 26, 2020.
The county’s motion requests for “all documents relating to or reflecting counseling, therapy, psychotherapy, psychiatry or any other mental health treatment provided to Vanessa Bryant from Jan. 1, 2010, to the present.’” They add, “The County continues to have nothing but the deepest sympathy for the enormous grief Ms. Bryant suffered as a result of the tragic helicopter accident,” county attorney Skip Miller said in a written statement. “Our motion for access to her medical records, however, is a standard request in lawsuits where a plaintiff demands millions of dollars for claims of emotional distress. I have an obligation to take this step to defend the County.”
As we previously reported, Bryant’s lawsuit contends that first responders, including firefighters and sheriff’s deputies, shared photographs of Kobe Bryant’s body with a bartender and passed around “gratuitous photos of the dead children, parents and coaches.”
She is suing the county and some of its agencies and employees for emotional distress she said was caused by them.
Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and the others died in January 2020 when their helicopter crashed in Calabasas west of Los Angeles in foggy weather. Christina Mauser, 38, an assistant coach for Team Mamba, and three members of the Altobelli family—Alyssa, 14, John, 56, and Keri, 46 were also identified as some of the victims of the deadly crash.