Chris Brown ordered to pay former housekeeper $13,000,000 following vicious dog attack
A two-week trial involving Chris Brown came to an end yesterday (30 June) as he was ordered to cough up millions.
In 2020, the ‘With You’ singer’s housekeeper, Maria Avila, was viciously attacked by his 200-pound Caucasian shepherd.
Maria was emptying rubbish outside his home in Tarzana, California, when Hades mauled and disfigured her.
Brown was found liable by a Los Angeles jury for $13 million as he and his company, Black Pyramid LLC, owe to Maria as well as her sister, Patricia, and husband, Oscar Olivo.
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This verdict comes just days after the singer began a co-headlining tour with Usher, performing in stadiums across the US throughout the summer.
In his initial response to Maria’s lawsuit, the ‘Under the Influence’ singer argued that the housekeeper provoked his dog and caused her own injuries.
Her attorney, Michael C. Murphy Jr, 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 honour to represent her.”
Brown had claimed Hades was kept for security purposed and wasn’t his personal pet.
Testimony suggested that rather than call 911 himself of attend to Maria, he reportedly fled the scene and drove around for hours.
He had admitted some culpability before the trial started but testified in court that he’d warned Maria and Patricia about the dogs and to only go outside in the presence of security – a conversation they denied having.
According to an account of her testimony in Rolling Stone, Maria was left with severe scarring on her face and left arm, with limited mobility after surgeons grafted skin from her abdomen to repair her arm.
Due to lacking the arm strength and post-traumatic stress stopping her from being around dogs, testimony stated she has not been able to return to work as a housekeeper.
The outlet added that she walked to the jury box to show ‘a pattern of scars running from beneath her left eye up across her forehead’ as well as the ‘raised and pitted skin’ on her forearm.
"I will never be the same again," she told jurors.
Brown testified he was about to shower when he heard the dog growling and found Maria lying motionless amid ‘a lot of blood’ from the attack which ‘freaked me out’.
The singer and his company are to pay $12.9 million to Maria for negligence, $885,000 to Patricia for emotional distress (she was also on the job when the mauling happened) and $50,000 to Oscar.
Brown is scheduled to face trial in the UK in October for an alleged ‘unprovoked attack’ on music producer Abraham Diaw in 2003.
Topics: Chris Brown, Celebrity News, Crime
Jess Battison