Chris Brown fled from housekeeper mauled by his dog, will now pay her $13M

American R&B singer Chris Brown has been found liable in a lawsuit involving a dog attack on a housekeeper at his mansion in Tarzana, California. Following a two-week trial in Los Angeles, the jury ruled in favor of housekeeper Maria Avila. The attack occurred back in 2020, when the woman went out to empty the trash in the musician's yard.

Now, Chris Brown and his company, Black Pyramid LLC, are ordered to pay the victim a colossal compensation of $12.9 million for negligence.

Torn flesh and fleeing the scene

According to Maria Avila, a massive Caucasian Shepherd (often called a Caucasian Ovcharka or Mountain Dog) named Hades, weighing around 90 kg (nearly 200 lbs), literally tore "large chunks of flesh" out of her. The woman sustained irreversible facial injuries, scarring, partial vision loss, and nerve damage. To reconstruct her arm, surgeons had to perform a skin graft using tissue from her abdomen.

During the trial, shocking details about the singer's behavior came to light. As reported by Rolling Stone, instead of calling an ambulance or helping the bleeding woman, Chris Brown... simply fled. He abandoned his employee to other staff members, later claiming he feared the "media circus" that would ensue if his voice was recorded by 911 operators or if the police caught him at the scene.

"The sight of blood just scared me," Brown justified himself in court, adding that he was in shock and left on his manager's advice before the paramedics arrived.

Before the trial began, Brown partially admitted liability but contested the severity of Avila's injuries until the very end, attempting to argue that she was "at fault herself." The artist claimed he had personally warned Maria and her sister Patricia (who worked alongside her) that the dog was "categorically unfriendly" and that going out into the yard was only permitted in the presence of security.

However, the sisters refuted these claims. They noted that due to a language barrier, such a conversation with the singer could hardly have taken place in the first place. Brown also insisted that the dog did not belong to him personally, but rather to his security team to protect against stalkers.

Total fines and more legal trouble for Chris Brown

In addition to the nearly $13 million awarded to Maria, the court ordered supplementary payouts:

• $885,000 will go to the victim's sister, Patricia, who witnessed the nightmare.

• $50,000 was awarded to Maria’s husband, Oscar Olivo.

Maria Avila herself emphasized that she will never be able to work as a housekeeper again: due to the injury, her arm has lost its former strength, and severe Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) causes her to panic at the sight of any dog.