LA County Seeks Summary Judgment Against Vanessa Bryant in Kobe Crash Photo Lawsuit

Los Angeles County is requesting a summary judgment in its favor to conclude Vanessa Bryant's lawsuit against the county, according to USA Today's Brent Schrotenboer.

Bryant filed suit last September, accusing first responders and L.A. County sheriff's deputies of taking illicit photos of the crash scene where Kobe and Gianna Bryant and seven others were killed.

Per Schrotenboer, L.A. County contended in a court filing that the photos weren't shown to the Bryant family or the wider public and, as a result, her lawsuit lacks merit:

"It is undisputed that the complained-of photos have never been in the media, on the Internet, or otherwise publicly disseminated. Instead, [Bryant] testified that this case is about her 'having to fear those photographs surfacing.' But a preemptive, speculative lawsuit about what 'may' or 'could’ happen, as [Bryant] testified, fails as a matter of law."

L.A. County Sheriff Alex Villanueva confirmed in March he ordered eight of his deputies to delete photos of the crash scene.

"That was my No. 1 priority, was to make sure those photos no longer exist," he said to NBC News. "We identified the deputies involved, they came to the station on their own and had admitted they had taken them and they had deleted them. And, we're content that those involved did that."

However, the Los Angeles Times' Richard Winton reported in May that a former captain in the department's Lost Hills station had cautioned his superiors that Villanueva's order could amount to destroying evidence.  

Schrotenboer reported on Nov. 8 that attorneys for the Bryant family and L.A. County filed arguments on that matter.

"By destroying evidence instead of preserving it to conduct a proper investigation, Defendants have prevented Plaintiffs from discovering how many other people saw graphic photos of their loved ones' dead bodies," wrote Jennifer Bryant, attorney for Vanessa Bryant.

However, L.A. County said that Villanueva's order came before Bryant filed suit and that the department didn't need to begin preserving the evidence until she officially made her allegations in court.

According to Schrotenboer, Bryant's representatives are expected to file a rebuttal to L.A. County's summary judgment request in December. If the judge declines to grant the county's motion, the lawsuit will advance to a trial beginning in February.