The legal battle between Vanessa Bryant and Los Angeles County seems to have taken a surprising turn.
In a recent report by NBC News, the widow of the late Kobe Bryant is set to take a psych test as part of the newest development in the case.
According to the publication, the Los Angeles County filed a motion for Vanessa to undergo a psych evaluation to prove that the leaked photos of her husband and daughter’s Gigi Bryant helicopter crash site caused her emotional distress.
The County, in a statement, revealed that the motion was filed because a psych test was “necessary to evaluate the existence, extent and nature of Plaintiffs’ alleged emotional injuries.”
A Bloody Rebuttal By The County
They argued that the plaintiff [Vanessa] couldn’t claim she suffers from depression and anxiety without proof. The County also disputed that the leaked photos were the cause of her emotional distress, saying it was as a result of the crash and not the images.
In response to the motion filed, Vanessa’s lawyers have labeled the rebuttal by the County as “scorched earth discovery tactics designed to bully Plaintiffs into abandoning their pursuit of accountability.” Her attorneys wrote in a statement:
Apparently, in the County’s estimation, top officials should be shielded from providing any testimony, but the victims should not only withstand the emotional toll of a full-day deposition, but also submit to an eight-hour involuntary psychiatric examination simply because they had the audacity to demand accountability.
As you might know, Vanessa filed the lawsuit against the County and its sheriff last year, claiming that some of its employees took and shared photos from the crash scene.
The 39-year-old alleged that after getting assurance from the sheriff that the crash site would be protected from the paparazzi, she found out that about eight sheriff’s deputies used their phones to take photos of the deceased for personal gratification.
She is suing for tens of millions of dollars in damages from the County.
A Recent Victory For Vanessa
The recent update in the lawsuit against Los Angeles County comes months after Vanessa reached a settlement in her legal battle against the helicopter company, Island Express, involved in the crash.
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As The Blast previously reported, Vanessa, alongside other family members of the victims, entered into a confidential agreement with the company. The amount of money received by the parties was undisclosed.
In the original lawsuit, Vanessa accused Island Express of having a hand in her husband and daughter’s death for allowing the helicopter to fly under unsafe weather conditions and the negligence of their pilot.
