Chris Brown’s Ex-Housekeeper Accepts $9.5M Verdict in Dog Attack Case, Down From $13M
A judge had said Maria Avila could either retry her claims or walk away with a reduced award. She chose option two.
Former housekeeper Maria Avila, who was severely mauled by a 200-pound dog at Chris Brown's home, has accepted a reduced $9.5 million damages award in her lawsuit against the R&B star. This verdict is significantly lower than the initial $13 million awarded by a Los Angeles County jury in June. On September 30, Avila's lawyer, Nancy Doumanian, announced that Avila had chosen to accept the decreased sum.
The attack, which occurred in 2020, resulted in severe physical and emotional injuries for Avila. A jury awarded her $12.9 million for these damages, crediting her with long-term facial disfigurement, scarring, vision loss, and nerve damage. However, Judge Huey P. Cotton reduced the amount, ruling that while Avila should indeed receive compensation for her suffering, there was insufficient evidence to support claims of extensive permanent nerve damage.
In his ruling, Judge Cotton acknowledged that Brown accepted some liability for the incident but insisted that jurors were not biased due to prior knowledge of his 2008 assault on Rihanna. Despite this, he determined that the original $12.9 million verdict was too high. Avila's legal team did not immediately comment on whether they intended to appeal the reduced amount. Brown, currently on tour with Usher, has earmarked a portion of his profits to cover Avila's judgment.
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