Vanessa Bryant cites her mom’s own testimony in bid to dismiss ‘morally deficient’ lawsuit
Vanessa Bryant is using her mom’s own prior testimony against her in a bid to invalidate a lawsuit claiming the late Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant “promised” his mother-in-law a lifetime of support.
In a 43-page dismissal motion filed in Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana, California, Bryanta’s lawyers call Sofia Urbieta’s Dec. 15 breach of contract suit filed against her daughter and Kobe’s estate “factually, legally and morally deficient.”
They dispute Kobe ever made such a promise before his death in a helicopter crash last year and say Urbieta went on record saying as much during her 2004 spousal support battle.
“Over 10 years ago, in divorce proceedings in this court, Urbieta’s ex-husband, Stephen Laine, attempted to reduce his spousal support payments on the ground that Urbieta was living in a multimillion-dollar home and was being financially supported by the Bryants,” the demurrer from Bryant’s lawyers that surfaced Monday states.
“Urbieta denied these claims and repeatedly stated that she was not promised financial support and was not receiving any such support from the Bryants,” it argues.
In one court declaration cited in the filing, Urbieta said, “neither of my daughters has any obligation whatsoever, to financially support me. They each have their own lives, children and responsibilities.”
Urbieta further testified that “stories” claiming the Bryants bought her a $1 million home were “absolutely false,” according to the filing.
Bryant’s lawyers were due to argue the dismissal motion last Friday, but the parties have agreed to postpone the showdown to April 23.
Trump’s finances and argues the statute should run from the article’s publication date.
“A simple reading of the Times article, however, proves this is to be a hollow argument since the vast majority of it has nothing to do with any claim of fraud Plaintiff now posits,” Donald Trump said in a March 25 court filing supporting his earlier motion to dismiss the suit in New York state court.
Trump noted that his niece was a source for the Times story and gave the newspaper documents she received in the will dispute 20 years earlier. The parts of the article that relate to the “facts and circumstances” of Mary Trump’s fraud claims were derived “from the documents Plaintiff herself provided,” he said.
A judge may set arguments on the matter before deciding on the motion to dismiss the suit, which names Donald Trump, his late brother Robert and sister Maryanne Trump Barry as defendants.