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Vanessa Bryant, the late Kobe Bryant’s wife, asked the judge to drop the lawsuit from her mother, Sofia Laine, against Kobe Bryant’s estate. Since her husband’s death in 2020, Vanessa, 38, and her mother’s relationship became estranged because of Laine’s financial requests.
In December, Laine filed a lawsuit claiming Kobe Bryant verbally promised her to financially support her before his death. Laine insisted that she’s owed five million in missed wages for being a “personal assistant” and nanny to Vanessa and her children. Vanessa described the lawsuit as “frivolous, disgraceful, and unimaginably hurtful.”
Filed in Orange County Court, Vanessa asked the judge to drop her mother’s request for lifetime support in a 43-page dismissal motion. Vanessa and her legal team claimed that there is no obligation to support Laine and her demands for five million. Vanessa defended her motion to dismiss by asserting that Laine was performing as the grandmother, which is to spend time with her grandchildren. Vanessa’s legal team asserts that Laine’s verbal agreement with Kobe Bryant is too vague to support.
“My husband and I have financially supported her over the past 20 years, and I continue to do so, in addition to her monthly alimony,” Vanessa stated when the lawsuit was first announced.
A judge has yet to rule on Vanessa’s motion to dismiss her mother’s lawsuit.
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Vanessa filed another lawsuit in September for invasion-of-privacy against Los Angeles County and the sheriff’s department. The four deputies allegedly contributed to the “morbid gossip” by sharing pictures of Kobe from the January 2020 helicopter crash in Calabasas.
U.S. District Court Judge John F. Walter ruled that the deputies “are legitimately concerned that they will encounter vitriol and social media attacks,” but that “such concerns, by themselves, are not sufficient to outweigh the public’s strong interest in access.”
The names of the deputies were concealed in the initially filed lawsuit. However, because of Walters’ ruling, Vanessa named the four alleged sheriff deputies in a new court filing as Deputies Joey Cruz, Rafael Mejia, Michael Russell, and Raul Versales. The ruling is local and does not set any precedent for other legal court decisions.
“It will be broadcast across Southern California and across the country, that this kind of information has to be public when it’s filed in a court record,” Executive Director David Snyder said.
The helicopter crash in January 2020 killed Vanessa’s husband, Kobe Bryant, 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, and seven passengers.
