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Jury awards $31 mil damages in Kobe Bryant crash photo trial

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So sad and so insensitive. I hate to say it but with the trial over those pics probably WILL go viral in the coming days. Just don't look.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

They were wronged butvthe award seems too large, especially considering other cases were awarded far too small sums in comparison

2 ( +6 / -4 )

They need the money. It will definitely compensate for the emotional harm caused by these insensitive people taking the pics. Why the obsession with taking pics of everything?

-8 ( +2 / -10 )

This is idiotic.

All this is taxpayer money going to a family that is already wealthy to compensate them for photos being taken that were never made public or showed to them anyway.

Not saying that it was OK for the first responders to have taken the photos, but the idea that doing so caused 10s of millions of dollars worth of hurt emotions which the government should pay - again to a family that already has tens of millions anyway - is just obscene.

12 ( +14 / -2 )

Not saying that it was OK for the first responders to have taken the photos, but the idea that doing so caused 10s of millions of dollars worth of hurt emotions which the government should pay - again to a family that already has tens of millions anyway - is just obscene.

i agree, but when people use their 1st amendment rights either through words or pictures that is perfectly fine, but when that right infringes on companies and individual rights through monetary losses or emotional pain then there are consequences.

As the saying goes, speech is free, lies misinformation and harassment will cost you

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

i agree, but when people use their 1st amendment rights either through words or pictures that is perfectly fine, but when that right infringes on companies and individual rights through monetary losses or emotional pain then there are consequences.

Sure, but those consequences should be proportional to the harm inflicted. Your average Joe wouldn’t get tens of millions because somebody took pictures of their deceased loved ones, heck they wouldn’t even get a fraction of that against the person responsible for their deaths in the first place.

This is nothing more than a perfect illustration of how the legal system works for the benefit of the wealthy at a significant cost to everyone else. Its outrageous,

As the saying goes, speech is free, lies misinformation and harassment will cost you

Yeah but the Defendants did not lie, misinform or even harrass anyone in this case. They just took insensitive pictures which they at no point made public or attempted to show with any of the family. The actual damages in this case should have been nominal, instead they are going to cost every average Joe in that County either through increased taxes or reduced services. That is twisted.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

Sure, but those consequences should be proportional to the harm inflicted. Your average Joe wouldn’t get tens of millions because somebody took pictures of their deceased loved ones, heck they wouldn’t even get a fraction of that against the person responsible for their deaths in the first place.

The problem with this argument is that pictures of your average Joe would not have any demand, so there is a much smaller chance of them being taken on the first place, being shared with unrelated people (as these were) and specially becoming viral at some point in the future. Precisely because there is an interest from the public on the pictures is why the damage is not the same.

Still, the amount granted seems excessive even by taking into account this.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

I would hope she would donate this to the other victims of the crash. She doesn't need any more money. Shame that taxpayers are footing this bill too.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

I would hope she would donate this to the other victims of the crash.

The other victim of the crash is getting $15 million

Bryant's attorneys did not give jurors a dollar amount they thought their client deserved, but Chester's (the other victim) attorney gave them suggested guidelines that would have meant tens of millions for each plaintiff.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

This is why law suits like this with this amount of rewards should be OUTLAWED, pictures of dead people and everywhere are uploaded daily, some are marked sensitive and some are not.

I feel for the any victims families regardless of status, age, sex, or any thing else, what the deputies was WRONG, and insensitive, but the for the jury order the Los Angeles County to pay $31 million in damages  for 2 people is JUST AS WRONG.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Well, at the end of the day, it's all about money.....,

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Let's not pretend that this is the first time $$$ award is granted over mental hardship. It happens all the time. Maybe not for such large sums but still there's often $ compensation even for regular folk.

This should've never gone to court. There was evidence from the start that the police and firefighters showed the pictures to their family, friends, casual acquaintances, and even to a bartender. If the photos were used solely for law enforcement purposes, that's fine. It's part of their job.

I imagine that if it was settled out of court, the $$ settlement would've been lower. So it's the city of LA's own fault for letting this case get to court even when they knew their officers were in the wrong. Guess they didn't expect so many eyewitnesses against them.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

The problem with this argument is that pictures of your average Joe would not have any demand, so there is a much smaller chance of them being taken on the first place, being shared with unrelated people (as these were) and specially becoming viral at some point in the future. 

My concern in making the comparison with the average Joe was specifically with the amount awarded.

Damages in this case were awarded solely for emotional harm from simply knowing that a photo of a deceased loved one existed (it was never made public nor shown to them, so literally the only harm they suffered was from knowing that the photo existed).

This is something that could just as easily happen to your average Joe - people do often take photos at accident scenes involving non celebrities too and I could see someone suffering emotionally as a result. I also think its safe to say that the emotional harm inflicted would be about the same. I mean, obviously different people would feel differently about it, but the fact that someone is a celebrity alone doesn’t determine that.

Yet I have a lot of difficulty believing that average Joe would ever even sue in the first place, let alone win 30 million dollars in compensation from their local government. This is the product of a multi million dollar legal team at work, not something most people can afford. And I don’t normally care much about rich people hiring expensive lawyers to represent them, but when they use them to extract tens of millions from a local government that is probably going to close libraries, lay off firefighters or do something else to pay for the hurting the feelings of a rich person, I feel its an abuse of the legal system.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

I would say 99% of persons would gladly be emotionnaly harmed in order to get far less of the amount granted.

And first, there should be no money involved, prison only if ever proof was given that law infringement had happened. It even seems to me more about work rule infringement thn law.

This is obscene amount of money. The poor will pay for the rich, again. No moral but who cares in this world ?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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