A jury gave Cardi B a quick and absolute victory Tuesday at a trial in the lawsuit brought by a security guard who alleged the rap star assaulted her at a doctor’s office during her first pregnancy.
The jury 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.
“I am not even playing around. Even if I’m in my deathbed, I swear to God, I will say it in my deathbed, I did not touch that woman. I did not touch that girl. I didn’t lay my hands on that girl,” the rapper said after the trial, according to KABC.
She thanked the judge and her lawyers and warned that she would countersue the next time someone tried to bring a “frivolous lawsuit” against her. The amount Ellis was seeking from the lawsuit was not included in her filing, but Cardi told the court that the woman was allegedly seeking a $24 million payout.
“You don’t work at home, and you don’t work all day, and you don’t work for your money to give out your money,” she said. “So don’t ever think that I’m just going to give you my money that I work hard for.”
Cardi said her pregnancy was a secret to most of the world at the time, and she feared that Ellis was going to make it public. She acknowledged that the two had argued, but said it never got physical.
“Yes, I was angry!” Because I’m pregnant!” Cardi said. “And this girl’s about to beat my a**!”
Attorney Ron Rosen Janfaza, representing Ellis, asked the jury to side with the security guard and chastised the rapper for her language.
“The defendant came here, used all of this foul language. This is a court of law, you cannot speak this way in court. I have never seen this before. It’s a disrespect to us and a disrespect to the judge, courthouse,” he said.
Her testimony over two days last week was streamed live and widely viewed. After several days off, the trial resumed with closing arguments Tuesday, and the jury got the case in mid-afternoon.
Cardi said she had been visiting Los Angeles doing promotional work in February 2018, around that year’s 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.
The obstetrician’s office had been closed to other patients on a Saturday for her privacy.
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.
“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.
As she was leaving the courtroom on Thursday, Cardi was asked by reporters about rumors that she is pregnant with her fourth child. She is currently in the process of divorcing her husband, Offset, and is reportedly in a relationship with NFL player Stefon Diggs.
“Cardi, insiders are claiming Offset is publicly bragging about getting you pregnant for the fourth time. Do you foresee any paternity issues with Stefon Diggs?” a reporter asked.
The rapper was not pleased by the question, according to E! News.
“Stop disrespecting me,” she said before allegedly throwing a pen in the direction of the reporter who asked the question. “You’re disrespectful. Don’t do that.”
The man reportedly yelled back, “I still love you even though you just threw some stuff at me.”
She then accused the reporter of being sexist.
“I don’t care. Don’t do that. Do you see women asking those types of questions to me?” she asked. “Why do you feel, as a man, you get to ask me those types of questions?”
