LA County lawyers are asking a judge to compelVanessa Bryant to produce all her therapy records.- The records, they argue, would help them strengthen their defense against her claim that first responders leaked
Kobe Bryant 's photos at the site of the helicopter crash.
LA County is asking Vanessa Bryant to turn over all her therapy records dating back to 2010.
Court documents obtained by NBC News say the therapy records would help LA County attorneys bolster their defense in an ongoing lawsuit over leaked photos at the site of the helicopter crash that killed her husband.
The county asked for "all documents relating to or reflecting counseling, therapy, psychotherapy, psychiatry or any other mental health treatment provided to Vanessa Bryant from Jan. 1, 2010, to the present," NBC
Bryant sued the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department in September 2020, accusing deputies of sharing photos of the January 26, 2020, helicopter crash that killed nine people, including her husband Kobe and their daughter Gianna.
The lawsuit alleges that first responders passed around "gratuitous photos of the dead children, parents and coaches." She accused the deputies of "negligence" and "intentional infliction of emotional distress and invasion of her right to privacy."
"The County continues to have nothing but the deepest sympathy for the enormous grief Ms. Bryant suffered as a result of the tragic helicopter accident," county attorney Skip Miller said in a written statement. "Our motion for access to her medical records, however, is a standard request in lawsuits where a plaintiff demands millions of dollars for claims of emotional distress. I have an obligation to take this step to defend the County."
In her lawsuit, Bryant said she expressed concern that paparazzi were able to access the crash site. She said she was reassured that the county sheriff would secure the site.
"I said: 'If you can't bring my husband and baby back, please make sure that no one takes photographs of them. Please secure the area,'" Bryant said in her deposition, according to a report from the New York Times. "And he said: 'I will.' And I said: 'No, I need you to get on the phone right now and I need you to make sure you secure the area.'"
In March, Bryant won a lawsuit to get the names of four officers who allegedly took pictures of the crashed helicopter.
The following week she posted the names on her Instagram account.
Last month, LA County attorneys asked her to take a psychiatric exam before trial to prove the leaked photos of the helicopter crash caused her emotional distress.
Insider's Sarah Al-Arshani contributed to this report.