The rapper was accused of attacking a security guard in 2018
Rapper Cardi B has beaten assault allegations in California per a unanimous decision by a 12-person jury, reported the Associated Press.
Security guard Emani Ellis had accused the rapper of attacking her in the hallway of a Beverly Hills obstetrician’s office in February 2018. The guard alleged that Cardi B cut her face with her fingernail and spit on her.
Ellis’ suit sought damages for medical costs, compensation for emotional and physical suffering, and lost pay, as well as punitive damages. Per Cardi B, the guard was seeking US$24 million.
The rapper confirmed during her two-day livestreamed testimony that she had argued with Ellis during a promotional tour in Los Angeles over concerns that Ellis would leak the news of the rapper’s hidden first pregnancy. At the time, Ellis was a security guard for the building housing the office of Cardi B’s obstetrician, which had closed the office to other patients to protect the rapper’s privacy.
Cardi B claimed that Ellis followed the rapper to her appointment and that the guard seemed to be filming her. The ensuing argument was broken up by a receptionist.
Cardi B said the incident did not escalate to physical violence, with the receptionist largely corroborating her testimony.
“I will say it on my deathbed. I did not touch that woman. I did not touch that girl. I didn’t lay my hands on that girl,” Cardi B said in a statement released after her legal win, which was published by AP News.
Ellis’ lawyer, Ron Rosen Janfaza, claimed that the security guard lost not only her job over the incident, but a potential future in law enforcement or a similar field over the trauma caused by the assault. Janfaza also called out Cardi B’s liberal use of foul language in her testimony.
“This is a court of law, you cannot speak this way in court. I have never seen this before,” Janfaza told jurors in a statement published by AP News.
The jury, comprising six men and six women, took only an hour to find Cardi B not liable in the incident.
“The next person who tries to do a frivolous lawsuit against me, I’m going to counter-sue, and I’m gonna make you pay, because this is not OK. I am not that celeb that you sue, and you think is going to settle. I’m not gonna settle. Especially when I’m super completely innocent,” the rapper said in a statement made outside the courthouse in Alhambra, California and published by AP News.
Janfaza said in a statement made outside the court and published by AP News that he and Ellis intend to appeal the ruling.
