LOS ANGELES – On Tuesday, a jury swiftly ruled in favor of Cardi B at a trial concerning claims by a security guard accusing the rapper of assault during a visit to a doctor’s office while she was pregnant for the first time.
At a courthouse in Alhambra, California, the jury needed only about an hour to decide in favor of Cardi regarding the lawsuit filed by Emani Ellis. Ellis claimed that Cardi scratched her face with a fingernail and spat on her in a Beverly Hills obstetrician’s hallway in February 2018.
Cardi explained that her pregnancy was a secret at the time, and she was worried Ellis might reveal it. She admitted to having a verbal dispute but denied any physical altercation occurred.
Her testimony, which spanned two days last week, was live-streamed and garnered significant attention. The trial resumed on Tuesday with closing arguments after a brief pause, and the jury began their deliberation in the afternoon.
Cardi recounted that in February 2018, while in Los Angeles for promotional activities surrounding the NBA All-Star Game, she was four months pregnant with her first child with rapper Offset. She had informed her close friends about the pregnancy but had not yet disclosed it to the public or her parents.
The obstetrician’s office had been closed to other patients on a Saturday for her privacy.
Ellis, employed as a security guard at the building, allegedly followed Cardi to her appointment on the fifth floor. Cardi testified last week that she overheard Ellis utter her name into a phone and seemed to be recording her.
“I told her, ‘Why are you recording?’” Cardi testified, “and she said, ’Oh my bad.’ She practically apologized.’”
But the argument grew increasingly heated, she said.
“As we were arguing she’s backing me, she’s walking into me,” Cardi said.
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 “suing me for $24 million.”
A receptionist who broke up the argument between Cardi and Ellis largely backed the rapper’s account in testimony.
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