Vanessa Bryant broke down in quiet sobs as she heard that the jury of nine awarded her $16 million for her past and future pain and suffering.
Bryant, 40, sued L.A. County eight months after the crash that killed nine, saying she suffered severe emotional distress and became physically “ill” over the thought of strangers “gawking” at grisly images of her husband and daughter. Her claim was later consolidated with a similar suit from Chester, an Orange County financial adviser who lost his wife Sarah, and the couple’s 13-year-old daughter, Payton, in the tragedy.
“We are grateful for the jury’s hard work in this case. While we disagree with the jury’s findings as to the county’s liability, we believe the monetary award shows that jurors didn’t believe the evidence supported the plaintiffs’ request of $75 million for emotional distress,” lead county lawyer Mira Hashmall, a partner at the Miller Barondess law firm, said in statement after the verdict. “We will be discussing next steps with our client.
“It’s a pictures case with no pictures,” Hashmall said over and over. She argued any images shared byin Norwalk, Calif., or Firefighter Captain Tony Imbrenda at an awards dinner involved instances where the images never left the county employees’ handheld devices. She argued the men were simply processing and commenting on their difficult jobs when they showed the images to others.
“These are men who shared pictures of deceased loved ones like they were baseball cards,” Li argued. “How long do we want this practice to go on?”
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