Overview
- A Los Angeles jury on Tuesday, June 30 ordered Chris Brown and his company Black Pyramid LLC to pay Maria Avila $12.9 million for negligence and awarded $885,000 to her sister and $50,000 to her husband.
- Avila testified that the December 12, 2020 attack by a roughly 200‑pound Caucasian Shepherd called Hades left her with facial disfigurement, dozens of stitches, skin grafts to her arm, nerve damage, vision loss and post‑traumatic stress that ended her work as a housekeeper.
- Brown had filed a pretrial court admission of negligence under California’s dog‑bite law but contested the severity of injuries and whether he warned staff, and he testified that the dog was part of his security operation and that he left before paramedics arrived.
- The trial was disrupted in mid‑June when a juror’s outside research produced a mistrial and a new panel was seated before proceedings resumed for the two‑week trial that produced the verdict.
- Coverage notes no reported post‑verdict motions or appeals yet and places the judgment alongside other ongoing legal matters involving Brown while emphasizing the long‑term physical, emotional and financial impacts on Avila and her family.