07 Mar MULTI-MILLION-DOLLAR PAYMENT FOR BASKETBALL STAR KOBE BRYANT’S WIDOW AFTER THE PUBLICATION OF GRUESOME PHOTOGRAPHS OF HUMAN REMAINS

Vanessa Bryant is to receive nearly $29million (£24million) following the circulation of graphic photographs of the helicopter crash that killed her husband and daughter.

Five-time NBA champion and basketball star Kobe, 41, and Gianna, 13, were travelling to a basketball game in a helicopter with seven other people on 26 January 2020. Tragically, the helicopter crashed in foggy conditions outside LA killing all on board. When emergency responders attended the scene, eight employees of LA County’s fire and sheriff’s departments shared graphic photographs of human remains from the crash – with one officer accused of taking up to 100 photographs on his phone.

Vanessa Bryant and her three surviving daughters sued saying the photographs “of the dead children, parents, and coaches” were taken as gruesome “souvenirs”. She alleged that the officers morbidly traded photographs and that a sheriff even shared photographs of Kobe’s body with a bartender.

Vanessa has been successful in both her federal and state level claims for negligence and invasion of privacy. She won the former after an 11-day trial last August, when a jury awarded her $15million. LA County has now settled for a further $13.5million meaning she is to receive almost $29million.

Had these events taken place in the UK rather than the US, the outcome of any legal claim would likely have been different for two reasons: first, the photographs in this case were of Kobe and Gianna – not Vanessa Bryant – and they were taken after Kobe and Gianna were already deceased.  Where a person is dead at the time their privacy is infringed, a claim brought on their behalf by a relative to vindicate the dead person’s privacy rights would be unlikely to be viable under UK law. For Vanessa to be able to bring a claim for damages based in privacy law in the UK, she would need to establish that the publication engaged her own privacy rights.

Secondly, damages for infringements of privacy in the US dwarf those in the UK. The typical damages awarded by courts in the UK are five-figure sums.  The very highest pay-outs are in the region of £200,000 – £250,000 and such awards are rare. Examples include Sadie Frost for prolonged phone-hacking by Mirror Group Newspapers in 2015, and singer Cliff Richard after the BBC broadcast the police search of his home after he was (wrongly) accused of historical sex offences in 2018. Even adjusted for inflation, UK awards do not come remotely close to US pay-outs.