A judge Wednesday ordered Lil Twist to pay $1.5 million to an actor who was assaulted in 2014 by the rapper and some of his friends.
After a brief non-jury trial in which Lil Twist failed to appear, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Joseph Kalin found in favor of 27-year-old Chris Massey, who starred as Michael Barrett in Nickleodeon’s “Zoey 101” series. Most of the award consisted of punitive damages.
According to court papers that the plaintiff filed in June 2015, the singer was a guest at the apartment of the actor’s brother, Kyle, on Nov. 7, 2014. Kyle Massey, now 25, also is an actor who had roles in the Disney Channel sitcoms “That’s So Raven” and “Cory in the House.”
The plaintiff and the singer, whose real name is Christopher Lynne Moore, began to argue and the rapper threatened him with harm, according to the lawsuit.
Chris Massey ordered the rapper to leave, but he returned later without permission, accompanied by four of his friends, and the intruders began to punch, beat, kick, push and choke the plaintiff with brass knuckles and a screwdriver, according to the complaint.
“Moore repeatedly called Massey the `N-word’ and then ordered the other unknown assailants to steal plaintiff’s (Rolex) watch and wallet …,” the suit stated. “At Moore’s direction, (the other intruders) proceeded to remove plaintiff’s pants, leaving him in his underwear.”
Massey suffered cuts, wounds, scratches and bruises and had to have several stitches over one eye, according to his court papers.
In November, Moore, a longtime friend of Justin Bieber, pleaded no contest to assaulting Massey and was sentenced to a year in jail and three years probation.
Massey’s lawyer, Courtney Coates, told Judge Robert Broadbelt III during a pretrial hearing Tuesday that he did not know Moore’s current whereabouts and that the other men who attacked his client could not be located.
–City News Service