A judge has ordered Vanessa Bryant to turn over documents related to her treatment from a therapist in the time before and after her late husband Kobe Bryant's helicopter crash.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Charles Eick granted a motion ordering Vanessa and her therapist to produce documents related to her treatment from Jan. 1, 2017, to now, according to a magistrate's ruling on a discovery motion dated Nov. 15 and obtained by E! News. Defendants had requested that Vanessa provide documents related to her treatment from as early as January 2010 onward, but the judge granted their request with respect to a more limited time period. She and her therapist have until Nov. 29 to hand over all applicable documents to the defendants. E! News has reached out to Vanessa's attorney for comment.
In May 2020, Vanessa filed a legal claim seeking damages for emotional distress she said she suffered after multiple L.A. County Sheriff's Department deputies allegedly took photos of the victims at the site of the January 2020 helicopter crash that killed her husband and daughter, Gianna Bryant, and shared them with unauthorized people. In March, she filed an amended complaint against the county of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, the Los Angeles County Fire Department and four individuals, alleging negligence, invasion of privacy and violation of the 14th amendment.
"In this action, Plaintiff Vanessa Bryant ('Plaintiff') claims that Defendants violated her 'constitutional right to control the death images of her loved ones,'" the Nov. 15 magistrate's ruling states. "Plaintiff alleges that these violation(s) occurred when Defendants' actions or inactions caused the taking and/or dissemination of photographs of the remains of Plaintiff's daughter and husband, who had perished in a January 26, 2020 helicopter crash...Plaintiff alleges that Defendants' photograph-related actions or inactions have caused Plaintiff to suffer severe and continuing emotional distress...Plaintiff alleges that, because of Defendants, Plaintiff is in 'constant fear and anxiety' such that it is 'impossible' for her 'to have any peace of mind ever again.'"
"According to Defendants, Plaintiff is seeking millions of dollars from Defendants in this action," the documents read. "The only basis for any monetary recovery in this action would be Plaintiff's allegedly profound emotional distress, to the extent Defendants' photograph-related actions or inactions proximately caused such distress."
After the request for treatment-related documents was filed, Skip Miller, partner of the Miller Barondess law firm and outside counsel for LA County, told E! News, "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. 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."