Cardi B Blasts ‘Absurd’ Demand for a New Trial After Security Guard’s Failed Assault Lawsuit

Cardi B’s lawyers are firing back at a “baseless” demand for a new trial in the failed assault case filed by Emani Ellis — including the accuser’s suggestion that Cardi “intimidated” jurors by throwing a pen at a reporter on the courthouse steps.

Ellis is seeking a re-do after jurors easily rejected her civil lawsuit claiming Cardi B (Belcalis Almánzar) assaulted her during an altercation at a Los Angeles doctor’s office in 2018. But in a response filed in court Wednesday (Nov. 12), Cardi’s lawyers said the idea of a second trial should be “rejected out of hand.”

“Plaintiff Emani Ellis’ motion for new trial is entirely frivolous,” Cardi’s attorneys write. “She fails to establish any permitted grounds for a new trial. Instead, she repeats her counsel’s accusations of misconduct that are both false and not grounds for a new trial.”

In seeking a new trial last month, Ellis’ lawyer cited a viral incident in which Cardi was filmed throwing a pen at someone in a courthouse media scrum after he’d asked a provocative question about her pregnancy. According to Ellis, the disturbance might have been “witnessed by the jury” and could have impacted the trial: “Jurors would be intimidated if they had viewed this type of conduct.”

But in Wednesday’s response, Cardi’s lawyers sharply criticized that argument as hearsay and unfounded guessing — and said that Ellis had never raised it during the actual trial: “Plaintiff’s counsel’s speculation, knowingly false statements, and inaction are not grounds for a new trial,” they wrote.

Ellis’ attorney, Ron Rosen Janfaza, did not immediately return a request for comment on Thursday (Nov. 13).

Ellis sued Cardi in 2020, claiming the star had assaulted her when she worked as a security guard at a Beverly Hills gynecologist’s office in 2018, when Cardi was four months pregnant with her first child. Ellis said the star cursed and spat at her and scratched her cheek with a sharp acrylic nail, requiring plastic surgery to repair the wound.

At an August trial, Cardi said she never touched Ellis. During two days on the witness stand, the rapper testified that she and Ellis had a verbal-only altercation after she realized that the guard was recording her — a major concern, Cardi said, because she was still concealing her pregnancy from the public.

The rapper said it was Ellis who got aggressive during the encounter, backing her into a corner and refusing to leave her alone. Cardi also said her nails weren’t capable of cutting anyone, and the jury saw a photo of her at the NBA All-Star Game the week of this incident, sporting square nails that she described as less than an inch long.

After less than an hour of deliberations, the jury unanimously found that Ellis did not prove her legal claims of assault, battery, infliction of emotional distress and negligence. And on the courthouse steps a short while later, Cardi warned against future “frivolous” lawsuits.

“I work hard for my money for my kids and for people I take care of, so don’t you ever think that you gonna sue me, and I’m just gonna settle and just give you my money,” the star said at the time. “It’s not gonna happen.”

In the wake of the verdict, Cardi’s lawyers have asked the judge to punish Rosen Janfaza, Ellis’ attorney, for alleged misconduct during the trial. Seeking so-called sanctions against him, they say he repeatedly violated court orders, including by asking Cardi on the witness stand if she had any gang affiliations despite a ruling that such information was irrelevant to the case.

In his own court filings, Rosen Janfaza has denied breaking any rules willfully, saying he was inexperienced at trial and was “simply asking questions as best he could in an effort to zealously advocate.” But the judge ruled last month that the attorney must now “show cause” why he should not face sanctions. A hearing is currently set for next month.

Separate from the debate over misconduct, Ellis moved for a new trial last month, raising a slew of different arguments. Some were typical of a post-trial motion, like her argument that the verdict was not supported by evidence; others were very much not, like the pen-throwing claim, or an accusation that Rosen Janfaza had had a physical altercation with Cardi’s lawyers in a courthouse hallway.

“All of these actions combined had an affect the outcome of this case,” Ellis’ attorney wrote in that filing. “Plaintiff is entitled to a new trial under the circumstances.”

In Wednesday’s response, Cardi’s lawyers said Ellis’ request for a new trial “does not withstand even cursory review and must be denied.” They also denied any physical encounter, saying that “Mr. Rosen Janfaza provides no elaboration because his accusation is patently false.”

Cardi’s team also repeatedly alluded to the judge’s potential sanctions against Rosen Janfaza — suggesting that his eye-catching claims in seeking a new trial were “just another gratuitous attempt” by him to “besmirch defense counsel” and “distract” from the looming possible punishment order.