Earlier this month, the presiding judge of Vanessa Bryant's lawsuit against the LA County ruled against the county's request for a psychiatric exam from the widow of Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant. It was a significant development for Bryant's camp, but right now, it's as if the decision has been all but reversed.
According to a recent ruling by federal magistrate judge Charles Eick, Bryant's camp must now turn over private therapy records to the court no later than November 29. The judge has ordered Vanessa to submit records that date back from January 2017, which is three years prior to Kobe's untimely death in January 2020.
“The requests are plainly relevant to the claims and defenses herein and, as narrowed by this order, the requests are proportional to the needs of the case,” Eick wrote in his ruling (h/t Brent Schrotenboer of USA TODAY).
Vanessa is suing LA County for allegedly causing her distress over leaked photos of Kobe's helicopter crash site. The county argued that it was the fatal accident itself that brought about her emotional distress and not the photos that were allegedly leaked by county employees.
This recent development could be considered as a significant blow for the Bryant camp especially if the county is able to strengthen its defense based on her therapy records. Vanessa and her attorneys have slammed the county over this development with accusations of unwarranted persecution:
“This effort should be seen for what it is: an attempt to bully Mrs. Bryant into dropping her case to avoid her private therapy records being brandished in open court and reported on by media outlets,” an attorney for Bryant, Mari Saigal, wrote in a court document filed Friday.
As for the county, they too released a statement about this recent development as they fired back at Bryant's bullying claims:
“When a plaintiff puts her mental condition at issue and demands compensation for severe emotional distress, like Plaintiff has done here, she opens the door to discovery about her mental health,” said a filing last week from the firm Miller Barondess, the county's outside counsel. “The County’s request for Plaintiff’s therapy records is not an intimidation tactic, as Plaintiff argues; it’s a routine part of discovery in emotional distress cases. Mrs. Bryant is the widow of one of the greatest and most beloved athletes of all time. She is obviously not a typical plaintiff. But the rules of discovery apply equally to all litigants; there are no special exceptions for the rich and famous.”
It is worth noting that according to the judge, the case has an existing protective order that will protect Vanessa's privacy with regard to her therapy sessions. However, Erick also noted that the fact that by filing a case of this nature, Bryant effectively waived her patient-doctor confidentiality.
It remains to be seen if Vanessa's camp will agree to the judge's order here as doing so will expose some of her most private moments with her therapist. Then again, failing to do so could spell the end of her case against the county.
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