Judge poised to cut $12.9m award to housekeeper mauled at Chris Brown's home

A Los Angeles judge has signalled he will cut more than $5 million from the $12.9 million a jury awarded to a housekeeper mauled by a dog outside Chris Brown's home in 2020.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Huey P. Cotton heard argument from lawyers for Maria Avila and indicated he was not persuaded to change his tentative order reducing damages, according to Rolling Stone. A final order has not yet been issued. The judge said he would consider further how any cuts should be divided among parts of the award.

Avila's lawyer, Nancy Doumanian, told the court the proposed reduction was almost 40 percent, a cut of more than $5 million. She asked the judge to reduce the total to $11 million instead. That figure would still remove nearly $2 million from the jury's award, which included $900,000 for future medical expenses.

Judge Cotton told Avila's lawyer the choice was to retry the case or accept the reduced award set out in the tentative ruling. He then invited a proposal on how the reduction should be allocated across different categories of damages.

The case centres on an attack on 12 December 2020 at Brown's home in Tarzana, in the San Fernando Valley. Avila testified during a two-week trial last June that she had gone outside to empty a vacuum bag when the dog pounced on her without warning. Both Avila and Brown gave evidence at that trial.

The dog was a large Caucasian Shepherd, also known as a Central Asian Ovcharka. It weighed 200 pounds, according to Billboard. Avila said the animal attacked her face and arm and left lasting injuries.

Much of the hearing turned on the medical evidence. The surgeon who treated Avila testified at trial that she sustained a serious radial nerve injury, the nerve that controls movement in the wrist and fingers. He said she was left with reduced movement that impaired gripping, writing, typing, dressing, grooming, cleaning and other daily activities. He also said she continued to have neurological problems in her face, including heightened sensitivity to pain.

The court's tentative finding was that there was insufficient evidence Avila suffered permanent nerve damage. That conclusion underpins the proposed cut, particularly to future medical costs and related damages. Doumanian argued the trial record supported a higher figure.

Brown sought a new trial after the jury returned its $12.9 million verdict in June, according to Realtor.com. The current hearing dealt instead with whether the award should stand at its full amount. Judges in California can reduce a jury award where they find it is not supported by the evidence, while giving the winning side the option of a retrial.

What happens next is allocation. Cotton said he had not finalised how the reduction would apply across future medical expenses and other heads of damage. He asked Avila's side to submit a proposal before he issues a final ruling.