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LOS ANGELES \u2014 A jury gave Cardi B a quick and absolute victory Tuesday at a trial in the lawsuit of a security guard who alleged the rap star assaulted her at a doctor\u2019s office during her then-secret first pregnancy.<\/p>\n
The jury of six men and six women at a small courthouse in Alhambra, California deliberated for only about an hour before finding Cardi not liable in the lawsuit brought by Emani Ellis, who alleged Cardi cut her face with a fingernail and spat on her in the hallway of a Beverly Hills obstetrician in February of 2018.<\/p>\n
Only nine of the 12 jurors were required for a verdict in the civil case, but their decision in Cardi\u2019s favor was unanimous.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe next person who tries to do a frivolous lawsuit against me, I\u2019m going to counter-sue, and I\u2019m gonna make you pay, because this is not OK,\u201d she said outside the courthouse, where she posed for pictures with fans. \u201cI am not that celeb that you sue, and you think is going to settle. I\u2019m not gonna settle. Especially when I\u2019m super completely innocent.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said she had to miss her kids\u2019 first day of school because of the trial, and said her forehead was \u201craw, raw, raw\u201d after all the elaborate wig changes during the trial that at one point even left her lawyer confused over which was her real hair. (None of them were, she said with a laugh.)<\/p>\n
In two days of testimony last week that were livestreamed, widely viewed and full of viral moments, the hip-hop star testified she feared that Ellis was going to make her pregnancy public. She acknowledged that the two argued, but said it never got physical.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will say it on my deathbed. I did not touch that woman,\u201d she said after her win. \u201cI did not touch that girl. I didn\u2019t lay my hands on that girl.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ron Rosen Janfaza, the lawyer for the plaintiff Ellis, did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. He said outside court that they plan to appeal the decision.<\/p>\n
After several days off, the trial resumed with closing arguments Tuesday, and the jury got the case in mid-afternoon.<\/p>\n
Cardi said she had been visiting Los Angeles doing promotional work in February 2018 around that year\u2019s NBA All-Star Game. She was four months into her pregnancy with the first of her three children with rapper Offset. She had told her inner circle she was having a baby, but not the public or her parents.<\/p>\n
The obstetrician\u2019s office had been closed to other patients on a Saturday for her privacy.<\/p>\n
She said Ellis, a security guard for the building, followed her to her fifth-floor appointment. Cardi told jurors last week that she heard Ellis say her name into a phone and appeared to be filming her.<\/p>\n
\u201cI told her, \u2018Why are you recording?\u2019\u201d Cardi testified, \u201cand she said, \u2018Oh my bad.\u2019 She practically apologized.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
But the argument grew increasingly heated, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs we were arguing she\u2019s backing me, she\u2019s walking into me,\u201d Cardi said.<\/p>\n
Ellis testified that the incident left her humiliated and traumatized, and the scar on her face required cosmetic surgery. Ellis, who lost her job over the incident, sought damages that include medical expenses, compensation for emotional and physical suffering, and lost wages, along with punitive damages. She does not specify a total amount in the lawsuit but Cardi said from the stand that she is \u201csuing me for $24 million.\u201d<\/p>\n
A receptionist who broke up the argument between Cardi and Ellis largely backed the rapper\u2019s account in testimony.<\/p>\n
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