{"id":11000,"date":"2026-06-20T00:22:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T00:22:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/chris-brown-testifies-at-trial-in-housekeepers-dog-bite-lawsuit\/"},"modified":"2026-06-20T00:22:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T00:22:09","slug":"chris-brown-testifies-at-trial-in-housekeepers-dog-bite-lawsuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/chris-brown-testifies-at-trial-in-housekeepers-dog-bite-lawsuit\/","title":{"rendered":"Chris Brown Testifies at Trial in Housekeeper’s Dog Bite Lawsuit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n\tChris Brown took the witness stand on Thursday (June 18) in a trial over a dog attack at his home during which a housekeeper was mauled \u2014\u00a0and denied the woman\u2019s claim that he \u201cfled the scene\u201d to avoid responsibility.<\/p>\n

\n\tBrown was the first witness to testify in the case brought by Maria Avila, who was mauled by a 200-pound dog while working as a housekeeper at the R&B star\u2019s Tarzana, Calif., home more than five years ago. The jury trial is being held in the San Fernando Valley, part of the Los Angeles metro area.<\/p>\n

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\n\tIn December 2020, Avila was emptying trash outside Brown\u2019s house when she was attacked by a Caucasian shepherd \u2014 a massive, aggressive breed notorious for being used as guard dogs at Russian prisons. Avila alleges that the dog, named Hades, ripped off \u201clarge chunks of her skin.\u201d She\u2019s seeking financial damages from the singer for her injuries, including permanent facial disfigurement, scarring, vision loss and nerve damage.<\/p>\n

\n\tBrown has accepted some liability for negligence in the trial, but he disputes the extent of Avila\u2019s injuries and claims that she\u2019s partially at fault for the incident. Brown told the jury on Thursday that he personally warned Avila that multiple dogs on the property were \u201cabsolutely not\u201d friendly, and that she shouldn\u2019t go outside unless accompanied by security staff.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe star also testified that Hades was not his personal pet. Rather, he said the dog was purchased and looked after by his security guards to help protect the house from break-ins. \u201cI get a lot of stalker-type situations,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

\n\tOn the day of the incident, Brown testified that he was in his bedroom and heard a growl outside, after which he ran out to see Avila lying face down in the driveway, with Hades backing away. A portion of her face was \u201csevered,\u201d Brown said, and the bleeding was extensive. He checked to make sure Avila was breathing, and then his security guards called 9-1-1.<\/p>\n

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\n\tDuring cross-examination, Avila\u2019s attorney, Nancy Doumanian<\/strong>, suggested that Brown \u201cfled the scene\u201d before paramedics or police arrived. Brown denied this and said his manager, Anthony \u201cAnt\u201d Wilson<\/strong>, told him to leave once an ambulance was on its way.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI was advised to leave the property [to avoid] the publicity [of having] TMZ run the story,\u201d testified Brown. \u201cIt would have been a circus because of my status as an artist. It\u2019s pretty sticky when it comes to that. So me just kind of staying away was advised.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDoumanian also asked Brown whether he\u2019s ever been convicted of a felony, and he replied, \u201cYes, ma\u2019am.\u201d Brown pled guilty in 2009 to assaulting Rihanna, his then-girlfriend. The trial\u2019s judge barred Doumanian from asking Brown about the details of his criminal record, including both the Rihanna matter and another pending case in the U.K., during the cross-examination.<\/p>\n

\n\tAvila first sued Brown over the incident in 2021, alongside her sister and husband. The trial began on Monday (June 15), but Brown\u2019s testimony was delayed by a few days after a juror improperly researched the case online. This led a judge to declare a mistrial and empanel a whole new jury.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe trial will likely continue for several more days before a verdict is reached.<\/p>\n


\"Billboard
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Chris Brown took the witness stand on Thursday (June 18) in a trial over a dog attack at his home during which a housekeeper was mauled \u2014\u00a0and denied […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11001,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[8163,1683,2662,7860,5826,303,2901,342],"class_list":["post-11000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lawyers","tag-bite","tag-brown","tag-chris","tag-dog","tag-housekeepers","tag-lawsuit","tag-testifies","tag-trial"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11000","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11000"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11000\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}