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A lawsuit filed against “Dog Whisperer” Cesar Millan alleges that the trainer’s dog attacked and killed singer/actress Queen Latifah’s dog before Millan asked staff to cover up the incident.
A personal injury lawsuit was filed against dog trainer Cesar Millan by Lidia Matiss, a young gymnast who claims Millan’s dog attacked and severely injured her legs in 2017. According to court documents, the dog had been walking around Millan’s office, where the gymnast’s mother worked, when the attack occurred.
The gymnast was performing at the highest level of the USA Gymnastics Junior Olympics Programs, TMZ reported. She was actively being recruited by the University of Pennsylvania and claims she could no longer compete because of severe injuries from the attack, which included multiple bites to her legs.
In the lawsuit, Matiss and her attorneys Omar G. Qureshi and Brian M. Adesman claim that Millan allowed the dog to regularly be unleashed and unsupervised, despite previous violent incidents and a history of attacking other people and pets. The gymnast claims that one of those incidents involved a fatal attack of one of singer/actress Queen Latifah’s dogs.
According to Matiss, Queen Latifah brought two of her dogs to Cesar Millan’s Dog Psychology Center in Santa Clarita, CA.
She says Junior mauled one of the singer/actress’s dogs to death, and further claims Millan attempted to hide the incident, asking his staff to tell Queen Latifah the dog was hit and killed by a car.
Matiss is suing Cesar Millan for unspecified damages for the attack that left her wounded and disfigured. She claims that she continues to suffer from ongoing physical pain and emotional distress years later.
In his answer to the lawsuit, Millan contends that the gymnast assumed the risk of being bitten because she knew of the potential danger in visiting the trainer’s office. Millan also accused the gymnast of negligence but did not specify the details of that claim.
Millan’s dog, Junior passed away on July 21, 2021.
Representatives for both Millan and Queen Latifah have not responded to requests for comments.
