Chris Brown wins new trial bid over $12.9m dog-attack award

Chris Brown is entitled to a new trial on the amount he owes housekeeper Maria Avila over a dog attack, unless she agrees to accept $9.5 million instead of $12.9 million.

Los Angeles County Judge Huey P. Cotton issued the conditional order after finding the jury's award was excessive. The ruling applies to Avila only, and only on the issue of damages, the money ordered to compensate for harm. It was reported by Rolling Stone.

The case centres on 12 December 2020 at Brown's home in Tarzana in the San Fernando Valley. Avila said she was attacked by a 200-pound dog while working there. She testified that she suffered severe arm and face injuries, extensive scarring and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Before trial, Brown admitted negligence under California's dog-bite statute, the state law that holds dog owners liable for bites. That left the jury to decide damages rather than fault. Brown claimed he had warned Avila and her sister not to go outside without asking him first because his dogs were not friendly. The women denied receiving that warning. Both Brown and Avila took the stand during the trial, according to TMZ.

In cutting the award, Judge Cotton said Avila should be compensated for emotional distress and persistent pain. But he found insufficient evidence of extensive permanent nerve damage to support the full $12.9 million, a sum reported as about £9.7 million by the BBC.

The judge left a second award untouched. Jurors gave $855,000 to Patricia Avila, Maria Avila's sister, for past economic damages and emotional distress. Patricia Avila was working alongside her sister when the attack happened.

Brown's lawyers had also argued that the verdict was tainted because jurors heard about his felony conviction for his 2009 domestic violence assault on Rihanna. Judge Cotton rejected that argument. He said jurors were told only that the conviction was on Brown's record. They did not hear details of the incident.

Brown, an R&B star described by Billboard, has not yet had the reduced figure imposed. Avila must now decide whether to consent to the $9.5 million in favour of a retrial limited to how much she should receive.