Chris Brown’s former housekeeper Maria Avila has agreed to accept a reduced $9.5 million award in her dog attack case, avoiding a new trial over damages, according to court documents.
Avila originally won a $12.9 million jury award after a two-week trial in June.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Huey P. Cotton later ruled the award was excessive and found there was insufficient evidence to support portions of the damages calculation, including extensive permanent nerve damage and the amount awarded for future pain and suffering.
Brown and his company, Black Pyramid LLC, had sought a new trial on damages. Cotton gave Avila the option of accepting the reduced amount or returning to court for another damages trial, TMZ reported.
Avila chose the $9.5 million award. Her attorney, Nancy Doumanian, wrote in a court filing.
“Maria Avila hereby unequivocally accepts the [downward adjustment] and consents to the reduction of her damages award to $9,500,000,” her attorney wrote, according to Rolling Stone.
The revised award includes $3.85 million for past non-economic losses, $5.4 million for future non-economic losses and $250,000 for future medical expenses.
The case stems from a Dec. 12, 2020, attack at Brown’s Tarzana home in Los Angeles.
Avila said she went outside to empty a vacuum bag when Brown’s large security dog, a Caucasian shepherd also known as a Central Asian Ovcharka, attacked her without warning.
Avila suffered severe injuries to her arm and face, extensive scarring and post-traumatic stress disorder.
She showed jurors scars on her left forearm and face, with the facial injuries requiring dozens of stitches.
“I will never be the same again,” Avila said in Spanish through an interpreter.
Doumanian argued that Avila suffered serious radial nerve damage that reduced movement in her wrist and fingers and affected her ability to grip objects, write, type, dress, groom herself and clean.
Cotton rejected some of the jury’s findings on permanent nerve damage but found evidence that Avila would continue experiencing emotional distress, humiliation, shame, embarrassment and some persistent nerve pain.
Brown testified that he heard his dog, Hades, growling outside before finding Avila face down and motionless.
He said he locked up the dog, called for his security guard to get help and checked that Avila was breathing.
Brown acknowledged that he did not personally call 911 because he feared a recording would be leaked to the media.
Brown also testified that he left before paramedics arrived after his manager allegedly suggested it and confirmed he did not ask security to preserve surveillance footage from the incident, according to Rolling Stone.
Before trial, Brown admitted negligence under California’s dog-bite statute but disputed the extent of Avila’s injuries and argued she was partly responsible for going outside alone.
The jury rejected that argument.
Brown also sought a new trial on other grounds, including a challenge to the jury hearing about his 2009 felony conviction.
Cotton rejected that argument, finding Brown had not shown that admitting the conviction was an error good enough to justify another trial, according to Complex.
Avila’s sister, Patricia, was awarded $885,000 for emotional distress after witnessing the attack.
Cotton declined to reduce that award, finding it supported by the evidence.
Maria Avila’s husband received $50,000, according to HotNewHipHop.
Avila’s decision to accept the $9.5 million award ends the damages fight without another trial, avoiding the additional expense, uncertainty, and emotional toll that could have come with returning to court.
