Maria Avila Accepts Reduced $9.5 Million Award

Maria Avila has agreed to accept a reduced $9.5 million damages award in her dog-attack case against singer Chris Brown, after a Los Angeles County judge ruled she could take the lower amount or face a new trial limited to damages. The agreement is reported in newly filed case documents; the available information does not establish whether the reduced award has been formally entered as a judgment or paid. A jury awarded Avila $12.9 million after finding Brown liable for the 2020 attack at his Tarzana home. Judge Huey P. Cotton found that amount excessive, citing insufficient evidence to support the jury’s assessment of extensive permanent nerve damage and future pain and suffering. His conditional order gave Avila the choice of accepting $9.5 million or retrying the damages question. The reported agreement means that damages trial will not proceed on the terms set out in the order. The reported breakdown of the reduced award is $3.85 million for past noneconomic losses, $5.4 million for future noneconomic losses and $250,000 for future medical expenses. Those figures total $9.5 million. The case account describes the breakdown as proposed allocations in filed documents.