A security guard will seek a new trial of her lawsuit against Cardi B, who was cleared by a jury in September of assaulting the plaintiff at a medical office in 2018 when the rapper was pregnant.
The Alhambra Superior Court jury rejected plaintiff Emani Ellis’ story that the singer accosted her at the Beverly Hills OB-GYN office on Wilshire Boulevard on Feb. 24, 2018. Ellis worked as a security guard there and she further alleged that Cardi B shouted racial slurs, spat on her and used her long fingernails to cut her face.
Both women are Black.
On Friday, Ellis’ attorney filed court papers with Judge Ian Fusselman informing him that his client will seek a new trial in a hearing scheduled Dec. 5. Although the notice did not contain a formal motion, the lawyer said court papers are forthcoming and that the grounds for overturning the jury’s decision will include insufficient evidence to support the verdict and error of law.
In her testimony, Cardi B, now 33, contended that Ellis was the aggressor and that the plaintiff was recording her with a phone as the singer entered the doctor’s office while visibly pregnant, a condition the entertainer had not yet revealed to the public.
“At the time, (Cardi B) was roughly four months pregnant with her first child and had taken great care to keep her pregnancy private and away from the scrutiny of tabloids and critics,” according to her attorneys’ court papers.
Ellis aggressively approached the singer and engaged her in a profanity-laced screaming match and appeared to be recording a video, but due to her vulnerable condition, Cardi B backed up and the argument ended quickly when staff from the obstetrician’s office intervened, the rapper’s attorneys further state.
Ellis’ claims for civil rights violations and false imprisonment were dismissed before trial. She filed the suit in February 2020.
The singer’s real name is Belcalis Marlenis Almanzar.
After the verdict was read, Cardi B thanked her supporters and again maintained that she never assaulted Ellis.
“I swear to God, I will say it on my death bed, I did not touch that woman. I did not touch that woman,” she said. “I didn’t lay my hands on that girl.
“With that being said — with that being said — this time around I’m going to be nice,” the rapper told reporters. “But the next person that tries to do a frivolous lawsuit against me, I’m going to counter-sue and I’m going to make you pay. Because this is not OK. … Don’t you ever think that you’re going to sue me and I’m going to settle and just give you money, because it’s not going to happen.”