Singer Chris Brown has been ordered to pay nearly US$13mil to a former housekeeper who was mauled by a large dog at his California home in late 2020.
After a two-week civil trial, a jury on June 30 awarded the former housekeeper, Maria Avila, US$12.9mil in damages.
Avila’s sister, Patricia Avila, who occasionally worked with her sibling and was present during the attack, was awarded US$885,000, and Maria Avila’s husband, Oscar Olivo, was awarded US$50,000.
“This case has always been about accountability, not celebrity,” Nancy Doumanian, Maria Avila’s lawyer, said in a statement on July 1.
“After hearing weeks of testimony and considering all of the evidence,” Doumanian added, “the jury rejected the defence’s claim that our client was at fault for the dog mauling, and returned a verdict recognising the devastating and permanent consequences of this attack.”
A lawyer for Brown did not immediately respond to a request for comment on July 1.
In the original complaint filed in the Superior Court of California for Los Angeles County in July 2021, Avila said she had been attacked by a large dog while performing her housekeeping duties at Brown’s home in Tarzana, California, on Dec 12, 2020.
The dog, which the complaint described as a Caucasian shepherd named Hades, weighed more than 200 pounds (90.7kg).
“While reaching into the trash receptacle to dispose of trash, a very large brown dog comes out of nowhere and viciously and brutally mauls, bites and attacks” Avila, the complaint said, adding that the dog “savagely” bit her face, arms and other parts of her body.
Avila said in the complaint that at one point after the episode, Brown stood over her talking on his phone and ordered his security team to remove all the dogs from the property before police arrived.
She explained in her lawsuit that the attack had resulted in a number of debilitating injuries, including lacerations and fractures to her face. Chunks of her skin and nerves were torn from her face, arms and body, the lawsuit said.
Avila’s sister was awarded US$750,000 for emotional distress and US$135,000 in economic losses. Avila’s husband’s award was for consortium damages, including the loss of companionship.
The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office Animal Shelter euthanised the dog about 11 days after the attack.
Brown, who is on a national stadium tour with R&B singer Usher, testified in June that he had not owned the dog but that his security team had purchased it, according to Rolling Stone.
Brown said he had warned the Avila sisters, in English, that the dogs were not friendly and advised them not to go outside without his permission. A lawyer for Maria Avila said the sisters primarily spoke Spanish.
Brown also testified that he did not personally call emergency responders out of fear of attracting outsized attention from the news media, and that he had left his home for hours after the attack at his manager’s direction.
Asked by a lawyer for Avila what would have been the problem with waiting for the paramedics to arrive, Brown said, according to Rolling Stone magazine: “I didn’t want a misleading story or, like, a circus, from my status. It’s pretty sticky when it comes to that. So me staying out of the way was advised.” – ©2026 The New York Times Company
