Los Angeles jury orders Chris Brown to pay nearly $13 million after dog mauling

A Los Angeles jury ordered Chris Brown to pay nearly $13 million after finding him and his company liable for a dog mauling that left housekeeper Maria Avila with scarring, vision loss and nerve damage. The verdict put a sharp price on a private-property attack that jurors concluded was tied to negligence, not an unavoidable accident.

The case centered on a December 2020 attack at Brown’s Tarzana, California home, where Avila was taking out the trash when she was mauled by Hades, a 200-pound Caucasian shepherd kept for security. Reports identified the victim as Maria Avila, also identified in some accounts as Maria Aliva, and described injuries that included permanent facial disfigurement, arm scarring, limited mobility and post-traumatic stress.

The verdict came after a two-week trial and followed an earlier mistrial in June 2026, after juror misconduct prompted the court to start over. In the retrial, Brown and Black Pyramid LLC were found liable for negligence, placing responsibility on the singer and his business for what happened on the property.

Brown’s defense had argued that the dog was maintained as a security animal, not as a personal pet. One account said Brown fled the scene instead of calling emergency services after the attack, a detail that underscored the scrutiny over how the response was handled once Avila was injured.

The damages award reflects the way civil courts weigh permanent harm. Scarring, loss of vision and nerve damage are not temporary injuries; they can alter a person’s appearance, ability to work and daily functioning for life. In this case, the jury’s nearly $13 million figure signaled that it viewed the consequences of the mauling as severe, lasting and costly.