US rapper Cardi B found not liable for assault in civil trial
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Cardi B said during her civil trial that a security guard was seeking more than $30 million in damages.
PHOTO: AFP
Matt Stevens
Follow topic:
LOS ANGELES – A jury in Los Angeles County determined on Sept 2 that Cardi B had not assaulted a security guard, who claimed that the American rapper and pop star attacked her seven years ago.
The civil case involving Cardi B, who was born Belcalis Almanzar, drew wide attention last week after her blunt, unvarnished testimony about what had transpired was broadcast online.
The security guard, Ms Emani Ellis, filed a civil complaint against Cardi B in 2020. During the trial, Cardi B said Ms Ellis was seeking US$24 million (S$31 million).
But a jury rebuffed the allegations, finding that Ms Ellis had failed to prove any of her claims, which in addition to assault and battery included intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligence.
As each member of the jury confirmed that the verdicts were unanimous, Cardi B made a quick sign of the cross. Almost immediately after the verdict was finalised, she clasped her hands together and shook them in an apparent sign of relief and celebration.
“I did not touch that woman,” Cardi B, 32, said outside the courtroom minutes later, after thanking her supporters. She warned that in the future, if someone were to bring a “frivolous lawsuit” against her, she would countersue.
“I’m going to make you pay,” she said. “Because this is not okay.”
The episode at the centre of the dispute occurred on a Saturday in February 2018. Cardi B was visiting the Beverly Hills Medical Center for an appointment with an obstetrician, according to court records and testimony. At the time, she was about four months pregnant with her first child, according to court documents.
As she stepped out of a lift and into a hallway, she passed Ms Ellis. Cardi B asserted in a legal filing and in court that Ms Ellis, who appeared to be recording a video of her, told someone whom she was speaking to on the phone that she had just seen Cardi B. The two women then got into a confrontation.
Ms Ellis claimed that Cardi B had cut her face with a fingernail and spit on her while verbally admonishing her with profanity and racial slurs.
Cardi B acknowledged that she got into a heated verbal argument with Ms Ellis, but denied that she assaulted her.
After explaining that she and Ms Ellis had at one point been “chest to chest”, Cardi B was asked by a lawyer for Ms Ellis to assess her level of anger at that moment.
“I don’t think I was, like, on a high level of angry,” she said. “I was more on a high level of concern – very concerned.”
Asked why she was concerned, Cardi B offered one of a number of pointed responses that would soon be compiled by her admirers.
“Because I’m pregnant,” Cardi B replied, before adding with a pair of expletives that “this girl’s about to beat” her up.
In 2022, Cardi B pleaded guilty to two misdemeanours for her role in two fights at a New York club that also took place in 2018. She was sentenced to 15 days of community service. NYTIMES
Kirsten Noyes contributed research.
