Chris Brown’s former housekeeper Maria Avila has agreed to accept $9.5 million over a 2020 dog attack at the singer’s Los Angeles home rather than return to court for another trial over damages.
Avila formally accepted the reduced award after Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Huey P. Cotton ruled that the $12.9 million a jury awarded her was excessive. Brown and his company, Black Pyramid LLC, had requested a new trial, but Cotton ruled that only the amount of Avila’s damages could be retried unless she agreed to the $9.5 million figure by Oct. 2. Court documents show Avila “unequivocally accepts” the reduction.
The case stems from a Dec. 12, 2020 incident at Brown’s Tarzana home, where Avila said she was attacked by one of the singer’s dogs. She alleged the mauling caused severe injuries and left her with lasting physical and emotional trauma.
In reducing the award, Cotton found there wasn’t enough evidence to support the jury’s findings regarding extensive permanent nerve damage and the amount assigned to future pain and suffering. However, the judge found evidence that Avila would continue experiencing emotional distress, humiliation, shame, embarrassment, and some persistent pain from nerve damage.
Avila proposed dividing the new award into $3.85 million for past non-economic losses, $5.4 million for future non-economic losses, and $250,000 for future medical expenses.
Brown failed to secure a new trial on his other arguments. Among them, his attorneys challenged the jury hearing about his 2009 felony conviction, but Cotton found Brown had not demonstrated that admitting the conviction was an error significant enough to warrant another trial.
Avila’s sister, Patricia, also received $885,000 from the jury for emotional distress stemming from witnessing the attack. Cotton declined to reduce that award, finding it was supported by the evidence presented at trial.
