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Kobe Bryant rape case could be headed to California
Attorneys for the Colorado woman who accused Kobe Bryant of rape are considering suing the basketball star in his home state of California because of a strict cap on damages in Colorado, they said on Wednesday.
"It's still out there," the woman's attorney Lin Wood told reporters when asked if the lawsuit might be transferred.
During a short status hearing in federal court in Denver Bryant's attorney Pamela Mackey said the defense planned to call up to 125 witnesses.
Wood said such a move would be in the best interest of his client who was 19 when she said the Los Angeles Laker raped her in a Vail-area hotel last year. Colorado law caps how much the woman could collect, with the outside limit at $1.5 million. Wood declined to comment on whether negotiations were being conducted to settle the lawsuit.
Criminal charges against Bryant were dropped on Sept. 1 after the woman, who received death threats and was embarrassed by court mistakes that made her name public, said she did not want to proceed.
The woman's name has been made public as a condition for proceeding with the civil case, but many media organizations are not identifying her.
The burden of proof for a plaintiff in a civil lawsuit is lower than in criminal cases because a defendant faces money damages and not the risk of prison.
Bryant is scheduled to be questioned by the woman's lawyers next month and both sides agreed to keep information from the testimony confidential.
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