- Chris Brown's housekeeper was attacked by the rapper's 200lb Caucasian shepherd while taking out the trash at his home in Tarzana, California.
- Brown and his company Black Pyramid LLC now owe the housekeeper $12.9m in damages for negligence.
- Her sister and a coworker present during the attack, was also granted $885,000 for emotional distres
Chris Brown has been ordered to pay 13 million dollars after a jury found him liable in a lawsuit stemming from a dog attack that seriously injured his former housekeeper in 2020.
Maria Avila won her case against Brown following a two-week trial in Los Angeles. She was attacked by the rapper's 200lb Caucasian shepherd while taking out the trash at his home in Tarzana, California. Brown and his company Black Pyramid LLC, now owe her 12.9 million dollars in damages for negligence.
Patricia Avila, Maria's sister and a coworker present during the attack, was granted 885,000 dollars for emotional distress. Oscar Olivo, Maria's husband, was also awarded 50,000 dollars.
Maria said she was attacked out of nowhere by a dog named Hades, the singer's Caucasian shepherd. It ripped off "large chunks of her skin", which led to permanent facial disfigurement, scarring, vision loss and nerve damage.
She filed a lawsuit over the incident in 2021 and a two-week trial was held in June. Brown accepted some negligence liability before the trial but contested the severity of Maria's injuries and claimed she bore partial responsibility.
Testifying on June 18, the artist said he personally warned Maria and Patricia that several dogs on the property were “absolutely not” friendly and that they should not go outside without security.
He also told the jury that Hades was not his personal pet, but a dog bought and cared for by his security team to guard against break-ins.
Brown said he had been about to shower when he heard the dog growling and rushed downstairs to discover Avila lying motionless and covered in “a lot of blood.”
The rapper told the court he left employees to assist Avila as he feared his presence or voice on a 911 call would trigger a "media circus" when police arrived.
Rejecting the claims that he fled, Brown stated he drove around for roughly two hours before receiving word that it was safe to return home.
Avila, in her testimony, claimed that she hasn't been able to return to work as a housekeeper due to reduced arm strength and post-traumatic stress that makes being around dogs impossible. That fear, coupled with her physical limitations, had ended her career as a housekeeper, since most of her former clients were dog owners.
“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 honour to represent her,” Michael C Murphy Jr, a lawyer representing Patricia, said in a statement to Rolling Stone.
This trial isn't Brown's only recent court case. In London, he's due to stand trial in October over an alleged “unprovoked attack” on music producer Abraham Diaw with a bottle at a nightclub in 2003.