Vanessa Bryant will have to submit to a psychiatric exam if Los Angeles County has its way.
The county’s legal team is striking back at the widow of the late legendary Kobe Bryant after she filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit after deputies flashed and disseminated photos of the helicopter crash scene that killed her husband and daughter on Jan. 26. The Los Angeles Lakers legend, 41, and his daughter Gianna Bryant, 13, perished along with seven other passengers when the helicopter they rode in slammed into the mountains north of L.A.
The county wants an L.A. judge to sign off on the mental evaluation of Vanessa Bryant to determine if she really suffered additional anguish when Los Angeles Sheriff’s deputies snapped photos of the bodies.
The county is claiming that the surviving families’ devastation was only because they lost their loved ones in the fiery crash.
“Despite putting their mental condition front and center in this case, plaintiffs refuse to submit to independent medical examinations,” the lawsuit reads, according to USA Today.
“The County brings this motion to compel IMEs of the plaintiffs, which are necessary to evaluate the existence, extent and nature of the plaintiffs’ alleged emotional injuries. Plaintiffs cannot claim that they are suffering from ongoing depression, anxiety and severe emotional distress and then balk at having to support their claims.”
Bryant’s legal team clapped back at the county’s motion, calling it a “scorched earth” campaign to discredit her and the other grieving families.
L.A. County is also claiming in their legal filings that the photos taken at the crash scene were not shown publicly, save the one that was shared with a bartender.
