Vanessa Bryant has pledged to donate the entire $16 million lawsuit winnings to
Mamba & Mambacita Sports Foundation
The foundation was established by her husband late, Kobe Bryant
renamed after the crash in 2020, is dedicated to providing funding and sports
programming to underserved athletes.
A jury awarded the $16 million to Bryant and an additional $15 million to Chris
Chester, whose wife Sarah and daughter Payton also died in the crash, on Wednesday,
ending a legal battle that had been in the works for two years. During the trial,
Bryant’s legal team alleged she had suffered emotional distress from several
employees of the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department and Fire Department sharing
photos from the crash site, including pictures of the bodies of her husband and
daughter.
The majority of the money came from the Sheriff’s Department, as the jury found the
department had an established practice of sharing such photos.
Read Also: Kobe Bryant’s widow awarded $16m leaked crash photos payout
From the Times:
“From the beginning, Vanessa Bryant has sought only accountability, but our legal
system does not permit her to force better policies, more training or officer
discipline,” her attorney Luis Li said in a statement. “Those measures are the
responsibility of the sheriff’s and fire departments — responsibilities that Mrs.
Bryant’s efforts have been exposed as woefully deficient, even giving amnesty to the
wrongdoers.”
He added that Bryant “never faltered, even when the county attempted to force her to
submit to an involuntary psychiatric examination.”
Bryant left the courthouse without speaking to reporters following the verdict, but
called the outcome “justice” for her husband and daughter in an Instagram post soon
afterward.
Bryant has also settled lawsuits against the helicopter company involved
in the deadly flight and the estate of pilot Ara Zobayan, who also died in the crash.
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