Lawyers for the singer believe the highly publicized attack on his ex and other allegations “bear no relevance” to his dog ownership.
Chris Brown wants to bar references to domestic abuse allegations in his upcoming dog attack trial, including his 2008 assault of former girlfriend Rihanna.
In a lawsuit filed in 2021, the singer’s former housekeeper, Patricia Avila, claimed her sibling was mauled by Brown’s Caucasian Shepherd Ovcharka, although the two-time Grammy winner called 911 after the alleged attack. Avila claimed to have seen the dog tear “three to four inches of skin” off her sister’s arm, which caused the housekeeper to suffer PTSD, anxiety and panic attacks.
In new legal filings obtained by Complex, with the trial scheduled to begin on February 9, Brown wants to prevent plaintiffs and their council from “directly or indirectly” referencing his prior incidents and allegations of domestic violence.
In February 2008, the singer, who was 19 at the time, battered Rihanna, then 20 years old, in a car just two days before the 50th Annual Grammy Awards. Brown is also alleged to have attacked his former girlfriend, actor Karrueche Tran, along with a number of other women, some of whom recounted the purported incidents in 2024 docuseries Chris Brown: A History of Violence.
The defense claims that “Plaintiffs may attempt to introduce evidence,
argument, or references to prior incidents, complaints, investigations, or alleged conduct involving domestic violence or sexual assault by Defendants which bear no relevance to dog ownership, dog bites, or animal attacks.”
Brown’s legal representation deems the evidence as “irrelevant” under California law involving dog bite claims, which can potentially lead to “confusion of the issues or an emotional, rather than legal, verdict.”
Earlier this month, it was reported that Brown’s $500 million defamation lawsuit against Warner Bros. Discovery and Ample Entertainment over the History of Violence documentary was dismissed. In her judgment, Judge Colin Leis determined that one incident involving Brown allegedly sexually assaulting a woman in 2020 on a yacht owned by Diddy “presented a ‘fair and true’ report of [the woman’s] statements and the judicial record and proceedings.”