A judge ruled that Chris Brown is entitled to a new trial over $12.9 million in damages that a jury awarded to housekeeper Maria Avila, who was attacked by a 200-pound dog at the R&B singer’s home. If Avila accepts the reduced award, however, then the trial will not go forward.
According to a ruling on Tuesday and obtained by Rolling Stone, Los Angeles County Judge Huey P. Cotton has given Avila the option to choose a a reduced $9.5 million damages award or retry her claims against Brown. “The court finds that the jury’s award to Maria Avila is excessive,” the judge’s order stated. “The court elects to issue a conditional order granting a new trial, as to Maria Avila only, on the issue of damages unless Plaintiff consents to a reduction of the jury’s damages to $9.5 million.”
In an exclusive last week, Rolling Stone reported the Cotton signaled he was on the verge of sharply reducing the $12.9 million in damages. The judge heard arguments from the housekeeper’s lawyer but repeatedly indicated he was not persuaded to change his tentative order.
Avila’s lawyer, Nancy Doumanian, disputed the judge’s tentative finding that there was insufficient evidence Avila had suffered permanent nerve damage. Doumanian pointed to testimony from the surgeon who treated Avila on the night of the attack and continued caring for her through reconstructive procedures on her face and arm.
During the two-week trial last June, Avila took the witness stand and broke down crying as she recounted for jurors the Dec. 12, 2020, mauling at Brown’s home in the Tarzana neighborhood of the San Fernando Valley. Avila said the attack left her with severe injuries to her arm and face, extensive scarring, and post-traumatic stress disorder. In Tuesday’s decision, Cotton said Avila should be compensated for emotional distress and “persistent pain” from the attack, but that there was “insufficient evidence of extensive permanent nerve damage.”
Cotton kept a separate $855,000 award by the jury to Avila’s sister, Patricia Avila, who was working with Maria when the attack happened, intact. The amount was for past economic damages and emotional distress.
Before trial, Brown admitted negligence under California’s dog-bite statute. He continued to dispute the extent of Avila’s injuries and claimed he had warned Avila and her sister — both Spanish speakers — not to go outside without asking him first because his dogs were not friendly. The women denied the conversation took place.
Cotton also rejected an argument by Brown’s lawyers that jurors were biased because Brown’s felony conviction for his 2009 domestic violence assault on his then-girlfriend, Rihanna, was mentioned. During the trial, jurors didn’t hear details of that incident, only that the conviction was on Brown’s record.
A lawyer for Avila did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A representative for Brown did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
