Court Cases and Celebrities: Where Do We Draw A Line On Lawsuits And Civil Liability?
In the past decade, lawsuits that have involved public figures have highlighted the difficulty of navigating the legal system while balancing access to justice and fairness for public figures. The struggle is managing to find a balance between everyone’s right to access justice and protecting public figures from lawsuits that some argue place strain on the legal systems time, money, and resources. When celebrities such as rapper, Cardi B, and actress, Gwenyth Paltrow, are sued in civil cases for millions of dollars over alleged assault only to both be unanimously found not liable by a jury, the nature of such lawsuits are hit with scrutiny. The result of such outcomes like these begin to raise questions about how civil liability functions when high-profile public figures are defendants.
On September 2nd, Belcalis Marlenis Almánzar was unanimously found not liable by a jury in the civil lawsuit filed against her by Emani Ellis. [1] Ms. Almánzar, better recognized by her stage name, Cardi B was sued for $24 million dollars over an incident that occurred seven years ago, in 2018, where Ms. Ellis alleges being assaulted by her at a medical office in Beverly Hills, California. In the complaint filed on the 20th of February in 2020, Ms. Ellis alleges that on February 24th, 2018 when everything took place Cardi B assaulted her physically and verbally, kept her falsely imprisoned, and was claimed to have “...used her celebrity status to get Plaintiff (Ellis) fired from her job as a security guard” by Ms. Ellis’ attorney. [2] In a post-trial interview with news outlets such as Telemundo and ABC 7 Los Angeles, Cardi B stated once again that she did not assault Ms. Ellis. Though, in her interview she also included this thought provoking statement to the press: “This time around I’m going to be nice. The next person that try to do a frivolous lawsuit against me. -- I’m going to countersue. And I’m gonna make you pay.” [3] In a somewhat similar set of circumstances, Gwenyth Paltrow did just that.
On March 23rd, 2023 Ms. Paltrow was also unanimously found not at fault by a jury in a civil lawsuit. [4] Terry Sanderson filed a complaint against Ms. Paltrow on the 19th of January, 2019 claiming that Ms. Paltrow collided with him after skiing recklessly at Deer Valley Ski Resort in Utah, not only allegedly causing him traumatic injuries, but negligently fleeing the scene after without checking on him. Originally, Mr. Sanderson sought out $3.1 million dollars, but that lawsuit was dropped and he instead asked for $300,000 in damages. On February 20th, a month later, in response to Mr. Sanderson: Ms. Paltrow countersued, denied all the allegations made against her, and asked for a symbolic $1 from him which she was later awarded after winning the trial. [5]
Civil liability is a legal duty. It essentially means that a defendant who is found liable will be held responsible to remedy or follow any other court enforcement in order to rectify the suffering they inflicted onto the plaintiff. [6] Civil liability is one of the many concepts that fall under the umbrella of civil tort law. In this context civil tort law is what guides any dispute between individuals when one party, the plaintiff, accuses the other, the defendant, of causing them harm. When it comes to a case regarding personal injury, the burden of proof falls onto the plaintiff who then has to prove to the court that the defendant is directly responsible for what has happened to them. One major distinction between civil and criminal cases lies in the standard of proof: the preponderance of evidence. [9] The preponderance of evidence is needed for a verdict to result in a party’s favor: for criminal cases the evidence must prove the defendant's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt whereas for civil cases the evidence just has to be more likely to be true than not.[10] This means that civil cases have much lower threshold for proof than criminal cases.
Lawsuits that are filed with the sole purpose of silencing and intimidating someone with no legal basis are what one would call ‘strategic lawsuit against public participation.’ [11] Though there are no federal anti-Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP) laws in place, currently 35 states have incorporated such statues. In the past anti-SLAPP laws have been used to protect protesters, CEOs, celebrities, and a plethora of others. [12]
In both Ellis v. Almanzar and Sanderson v. Paltrow, public figures were accused of assault and sued by the Plaintiff for damages. On one hand celebrities or any public figure are vulnerable when it comes to civil lawsuits because of their status and public visibility. However, their privileges and advantages, such as being able to afford high caliber legal teams and social influence cannot be ignored. If new laws were to be implemented, would figures in the public eye be protected from claims privy to scrutiny or would it only result in preventing legitimate victims from seeking justice? Would this be seen as giving special privileges to those who are deemed celebrities? If so, then where should the line between privilege and accountability be drawn by society?
Sources
CBSNEWSs.com. “Cardi B Wins Case Filed by Security Guard Who Claimed Rapper Assaulted Her,” September 3, 2025. Cardi B wins case filed by security guard who claimed rapper assaulted her - CBS News.
Ellis v. Almanzar, 3 (2020)
Associated Press. “'I did not touch that woman': Cardi B wins lawsuit over alleged assault,” Youtube, September 2, 2025. https://youtu.be/AIMCfpH0bjE?si=x3vU8t4ZjAzX54_F.
Stevens, Matt. “Cardi B Is Found Not Liable for Assault in Civil Trial.” Nytimes.com. The New York Times, September 3, 2025. Cardi B Is Found Not Liable for Assault in Civil Trial - The New York Times..
Romo, Vanessa. “Gwyneth Paltrow Wins Her Ski Crash Case — and $1 in Damages.” NPR, March 30, 2023. Gwyneth Paltrow wins her ski crash case — and $1 in damages..
Jane Bernabe, Angeline, Carson Blackwelder, and Hayley FitzPatrick. “Gwyneth Paltrow Trial: What to Know about Alleged Ski Collision, Terry Sanderson’s Allegations.” ABC7 New York, March 22, 2023. https://abc7ny.com/post/gwyneth-paltrow-ski-collision-trial-terry-sanderson-utah-optometrist/12991337/.
LII / Legal Information Institute. “Civil Liability,” 2022. civil liability | Wex | US Law | LII / Legal Information Institute.
Allen, Karma. “Man Sues Gwyneth Paltrow, Deer Valley Resort for $3.1 Million over Alleged Hit-And-Run Ski Crash.” ABC News, January 30, 2019. https://abcnews.go.com/US/man-sues-gwyneth-paltrow-deer-valley-resort-31/story?id=60715853.
LII / Legal Information Institute. “Remedy,” 2024. remedy | Wex | US Law | LII / Legal Information Institute.
LII / Legal Information Institute. “Preponderance of the Evidence,” 2022. https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/preponderance_of_the_evidence.
Brandlytics Development. “Ben Crump.” Ben Crump, August 28, 2024. https://bencrump.com/burden-of-proof-in-a-civil-case/.
LII / Legal Information Institute. “SLAPP Suit,” 2025. SLAPP suit | Wex | US Law | LII / Legal Information Institute.