Los Angeles County Request Court To Force Vanessa Bryant To Take Psychiatric Exam

Los Angeles County requests that the widow of NBA legend Kobe Bryant and other surviving family members of those involved in last year’s fatal helicopter crash submit to a psychiatric exam.

The County hopes that the exam results will help their claim that their emotional distress did not come from the photos of their dead relatives, which were shared by county fire and sheriff’s department employees following the crash.

That is why the County is seeking a court order to force the other side to undergo medical examinations as part of their efforts to defend itself, USA Today reported.

Last year, Bryant filed a lawsuit, suing the County for invasion of privacy and negligence. The lawsuit claims county employees improperly shared the pictures of human remains from the crash site.

Friday’s court filing by the County claims that Bryant and the other surviving family plaintiffs are suing the County for “tens of millions of dollars” because they claim they suffered “severe emotional distress.” However, the County says this distress was not because of the leaked photos or any accident site photos.

“Despite putting their mental condition front and center in this case, Plaintiffs refuse to submit to independent medical examinations (IMEs),” the County stated. “The County brings this motion to compel IMEs of the Plaintiffs, which are necessary to evaluate the existence, extent and nature of 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.”

Attorneys for Bryant and the other plaintiffs slammed the County in their response, saying that it would force involuntary psychiatric exams on a group of surviving family members that includes “four teenagers, a 10-year-old child, and a 5-year-old kindergartener.”

“Unable to defend the indefensible conduct of its employees who took and shared horrific photographs of Plaintiffs’ deceased loved ones. … the County has resorted to scorched-earth discovery tactics designed to bully Plaintiffs into abandoning their pursuit of accountability,” the plaintiffs’ attorneys stated. “After seeking intrusive discovery into everything from Plaintiffs’ privileged therapist records and middle school report cards, the County now seeks to compel the victims of its employees’ misconduct … to undergo involuntary psychiatric examinations.”

“Adding insult to injury, the County is making this demand while simultaneously refusing to make two of its key witnesses … available for a routine deposition,” the plaintiffs’ attorneys stated. “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 for Defendants’ disrespect of the dead and callous intrusion upon their private grief.”