celebrity.estateAn EGRET.LAW propertyWorld map3D timeline
Home / Music and sport / Deputies and firefighters shared photos of Kobe Bryant's remains, and his widow won $28.85…
Case file s529 · Music and sport · 2020
See 2020 on the timelineSee it in 3D
2020
Kobe Bryant: Kobe Bryant Dec 2014
Kobe Bryant. Keith Allison. CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons.
Died
26 January 2020
Place
Calabasas, California · United States
Field
basketball (Los Angeles Lakers) · Sport on the timeline
Legal tradition
US federal civil rights law (14th Amendment); California law · Common law · Civil law
Historical event
Helicopter crash that killed nine, including Gianna Bryant, 13
Religion
Kobe Bryant: Catholic (recorded as Catholicism on Wikidata; 20th-century Roman Catholics, 21st-century Roman Catholics, African-American Catholics on Wikipedia)
Music and sportBodies, bones and burialsNowNorth AmericaUnited States

Deputies and firefighters shared photos of Kobe Bryant's remains, and his widow won $28.85 million from Los Angeles County

Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna and seven others died when their helicopter hit a hillside in fog. Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies and fire department employees took photos of the remains at the scene and shared them, including at a bar and an awards banquet†. Vanessa Bryant sued the county in September 2020 for negligence and invasion of privacy. In August 2022 a federal jury in Los Angeles awarded her $16 million, later cut to $15 million for a clerical error. Co-plaintiff Christopher Chester, whose wife and daughter died in the crash, received $15 million. In February 2023 the county agreed to pay Vanessa Bryant a total of $28.85 million. That covered the verdict and about $14 million to settle future state-court claims by her and her daughters. California made it a crime for first responders to take unauthorized photos of the dead at a scene†. Vanessa Bryant controls Kobe's business interests in 2026†.

What the law took from it

Families can sue the government over how it treats a body, and a jury will value that privacy in millions.

Sources
  1. etonline.comPress
  2. abc7ny.comPress
  3. foxla.comPress

Cite as: celebrity.estate, “Deputies and firefighters shared photos of Kobe Bryant's remains, and his widow won $28.85 million from Los Angeles County,” story s529, https://www.celebrity.estate/kobe-bryant-2020, updated 30 October 2026.

Related cases

Each one shares a person, a kind of fight, a subject, a period or a place with this case. The line under each headline says which.

David Bowie: Singer-songwriter David Bowie in Chicago during the Heathen Tour, 2002.2016 · New York CityDavid Bowie was cremated two days after he died with no one present, and his will asked for his ashes to go to BaliShared: bodies, bones and burials; also Music and sport; 4 years apart; also North AmericaDavid Bowie signed his will on 25 August 2004 under his legal name, David Robert Jones. It was filed in Manhattan Surrogate's Court on 29 January 2016. Reports valued the estate at about $100 million; one report said $230 million.ultimateclassicrock.com and 4 moreLayne Staley: Layne Staley July 2, 19892002 · Seattle, WashingtonLayne Staley's mother was paid his Alice in Chains share for ten years, then sued his bandmates when they ended itShared: bodies, bones and burials; also Music and sport; 18 years apart; also North AmericaLayne Staley died of heroin use in his Seattle home at 34. His body was not found until 20 April 2002, about two weeks later. His mother, Nancy McCallum, became the person who collected his share of Alice in Chains income.blabbermouth.net and 3 moreTammy Wynette: Tammy Wynette 1977 (cropped)1998 · Nashville, TennesseeTammy Wynette's daughters sued her husband for $50 million, and her body was exhumed for an autopsyShared: bodies, bones and burials; also Music and sport; 22 years apart; also North AmericaTammy Wynette died at 55 at her Nashville home. Her physician, Dr. Wallis Marsh, gave a blood clot as the cause. No autopsy was done. Her husband and manager, George Richey, controlled her affairs.mtv.com and 2 moreJuan Gabriel: Juan Gabriel in 1985 (cropped)2016 · Santa Monica, CaliforniaJuan Gabriel left everything to one son, and a man claiming to be another son asked a court for part of his remainsShared: bodies, bones and burials; also Music and sport; 4 years apart; also North AmericaJuan Gabriel, born Alberto Aguilera Valadez, wrote more than 1,800 songs. He died of a heart attack in Santa Monica at 66. His son Iván Aguilera was named sole beneficiary.loeb.com and 2 moreTed Williams: Ted Williams (cropped)2002 · Inverness, Florida, USATed Williams's will asked for his ashes to be scattered at sea, two of his children had him frozen in Arizona, and an ex-employee said his head was severedShared: bodies, bones and burials; also Music and sport; 18 years apart; also North AmericaTed Williams, the Boston Red Sox hitter, died of cardiac arrest in Inverness, Florida, on 5 July 2002, aged 83.Internet Archive and 14 moreJohn Entwistle: John Entwistle-12002 · Hard Rock Hotel, Las Vegas, NevadaJohn Entwistle's executors sold his guitars, his cars, his house and its last 700 lots within three years of his death; his ashes stayed in the groundsShared: bodies, bones and burials; also Music and sport; 18 years apart; also North AmericaJohn Entwistle, the Who's bassist, died at 57 in a Las Vegas hotel room after taking cocaine, on the eve of an American tour.Internet Archive and 5 more

Where this case sits

Music and sportBodies, bones and burialsNowNorth AmericaCommon lawCivil lawUnited States