Chris Brown wants a new trial in his former housekeeper’s dog attack lawsuit, arguing that the jury’s “excessive” $13 million verdict was influenced by improper evidence about his infamous 2008 assault of Rihanna.
Brown’s lawyers filed a motion on Monday (Aug. 10) asking to wipe the trial verdict won in June by Maria Avila, who was mauled by a 200-pound dog while cleaning Brown’s Los Angeles-area home six years earlier. Brown accepted some liability for the incident but said Avila was partially at fault, testifying during the trial that he specifically warned her not to go outside unaccompanied because of the unfriendly dog.
Monday’s motion, obtained by Billboard, argues that the trial’s judge unfairly allowed Avila’s attorney to ask an “inherently inflammatory” question during Brown’s cross-examination: whether he is a convicted felon. The R&B star answered “yes, ma’am” to this inquiry — referencing, without providing any details, his 2009 guilty plea to assaulting his then-girlfriend Rihanna.
“Mr. Brown’s conduct in an unrelated domestic-violence matter 17 years prior had no bearing on Plaintiffs’ alleged injuries, causation or damages,” reads the motion. “The jury was affirmatively told that the conviction could be used to determine whether Mr. Brown was believable. Thus, … it was expressly authorized to discount Mr. Brown’s testimony based upon a 17-year-old crime of violence having no direct relationship to honesty or veracity.”
Brown’s lawyers say this and other issues at trial — including the exclusion of evidence that the singer’s head of security gave money to Avila’s family after the incident — led to an inflated verdict of $12.9 million. They argue that this amount “cannot reasonably be reconciled with the evidence of the injuries and damages actually established at trial.”
The solution, argues Brown’s camp, is to hold a brand new trial in front of a different jury. Avila’s lawyer, Nancy Doumanian, told Billboard on Wednesday (Aug. 13) that she expects the judge will deny this request.
“You can’t hit the reset button every time a jury holds you accountable,” said Doumanian. “The evidence was overwhelming, the jury got it right, and we’re confident this motion will meet the same fate as the defense did at trial.”
In the meantime, Doumanian has been making moves to collect Avila’s judgment from Brown. In a court filing last month, the attorney argued that this money should come out of Brown’s profits from his ongoing stadium tour with Usher.
