Chris Brown was found liable by a Los Angeles jury on Tuesday for $13 million in the gruesome case of a dog that mauled and disfigured his housekeeper at his home in 2020.
At the end of a two-week trial, the verdict went strongly in favor of Maria Avila, who was viciously attacked by Hades, a 200-pound Caucasian shepherd owned by Brown, while emptying trash outside the singer’s Tarzana, California house.
Billboard was first to report the verdict Tuesday. According to what her attorney, Michael C. Murphy Jr., told the publication, Brown and his company, Black Pyramid LLC, are on the hook to pay $12.9 million to Maria Avila for negligence. That’s not all they owe. Avila’s sister, Patricia Avila, who was also on the job when the mauling took place, was awarded $885,000 for emotional distress, and Maria Avila’s husband, Oscar Olivo, was separately awarded $50,000.
Murphy and a rep for Brown did not immediately respond to Variety‘s request for comment. Murphy told Billboard, “After more than five years of litigating against Chris Brown, we are thrilled that we were able to get justice for our client, Patricia. We are so happy for her and her family after everything they went through on that horrible day. It was an honor to represent her.”
Brown had claimed that the dog was kept for security purposes and was not his personal pet. Jurors may have been swayed by testimony that indicated that, rather than call 911 himself or attend to Avila, Brown fled the bloody scene and drove around for hours while leaving those duties to employees, saying that he was afraid there would be a “media circus” if his voice were heard on the call or if he were around when police arrived.
The singer had admitted some culpability before the trial began, but testified in court that he had warned Avila and her sister about the dogs and told them only to go outside in the presence of security.
The verdict arrived four days after Brown began a co-headlining tour with Usher that will play in stadiums across the U.S. this summer, including two nights at L.A.’s SoFi Stadium in September.
Source: variety.com
