Cesar Millan Lawsuits: Matiss, Bitney, and Cruelty Claims

Cesar Millan, the television dog trainer known as the “Dog Whisperer,” has been named as a defendant in at least three civil lawsuits tied to dog attacks, and each Cesar Millan lawsuit on the public record was resolved through a private settlement rather than a trial verdict. He has never been criminally charged. As of 2025, he has no pending legal matters.¹

The Lidia Matiss Case and the Queen Latifah Allegation

The best-known suit was filed in January 2021 by Lidia Matiss in Los Angeles Superior Court (Case No. 21STCV00285) against Millan and his company, Cesar’s Way, Inc.² Matiss said that on August 14, 2017, while she was visiting her mother at a Van Nuys office building Millan owned, his pit bull Junior was loose and unsupervised. The dog bit her repeatedly on the legs, according to the complaint.³

Matiss was a minor at the time, a Level 10 gymnast in the USA Gymnastics Junior Olympics Program who had been recruited by the University of Pennsylvania. She said the injuries to her left leg required emergency treatment and ended her competitive career. Her complaint pleaded strict liability, assault and battery, negligence, negligent hiring and supervision, premises liability, and intentional infliction of emotional distress, and alleged that Millan knew Junior had bitten people and attacked other dogs before.²

The complaint also contained a separate, widely reported claim: that Junior had earlier killed one of Queen Latifah’s dogs at Millan’s Dog Psychology Center in Santa Clarita, and that Millan told staff to say the dog had been hit by a car.⁴ A representative for Millan called the cover-up accusation a “blatant lie” and said Matiss’s attorneys had sent a pre-suit demand letter for $850,000, which Millan refused to pay.³

In his response, Millan argued that Matiss knew the risk the dog posed and was partly negligent herself. A jury trial was set for July 5, 2022. The case never reached a jury. By July 2022 the parties settled out of court for an undisclosed, sealed amount, and the remaining court dates were vacated.⁵ Junior had died in 2021 at age 15.³

The Alison Bitney Case

In February 2015, Alison Bitney, a Florida critical care nurse, sued Millan and the Dog Psychology Center in Los Angeles Superior Court after she was attacked by a pit bull named Gus. The dog had a documented history. In February 2013, a Texas judge ordered Gus destroyed after he mauled a trainer named Amber Rickles badly enough to require reconstructive surgery. The owner appealed, and Millan’s center agreed to take the dog and rehabilitate him, with the understanding that Gus would not be released until he was “fully deemed a safe member of society.”⁶

According to the complaint, the center’s own head trainer and director later said Gus was not ready for a home and needed at least 18 more months of work, but the center released him anyway, in part because the owner had fallen behind on boarding payments.⁷ Six days after release, on September 23, 2014, Gus attacked Bitney at the Santa Clarita home of John Vazzoler. She suffered disfiguring open wounds, deep lacerations to muscle and tendon, bone fractures, and permanent loss of feeling and function in her left hand.⁸

The suit named Millan, the Dog Psychology Center, Vazzoler, and the dog’s owner, Jennifer L. Romano, and asserted negligence, professional negligence, violation of California’s dog bite statute, strict liability for a vicious animal, and premises liability.⁸ The Dog Psychology Center responded that Gus had been removed from its care “against the strong advice and objection of his trainer” and that Millan had no personal training role with the dog.⁹ A Los Angeles County judge later ordered Gus euthanized. The case settled out of court on terms that were not disclosed publicly.¹

The Flody Suarez Case

The earliest suit on record was filed on May 4, 2006, in Los Angeles County Superior Court by Flody Suarez, a television producer whose credits included “8 Simple Rules.”¹⁰ Suarez alleged that on February 27, 2006, his five-year-old Labrador retriever, Gator, was placed in a choke collar and forced to run on a treadmill at the Dog Psychology Center. The complaint said the dog was left with severe bruising to its inner thighs, bled from its mouth and nose, needed treatment in an oxygen tent, and required ongoing surgeries for esophageal damage. Suarez said he had already spent at least $25,000 on veterinary care.¹¹

The complaint pleaded breach of contract, fraud, animal cruelty, and intentional infliction of emotional distress, and sought more than $25,000 in damages. It was reportedly settled privately.¹

The 2016 Animal Cruelty Investigation

Not every complaint against Millan became a lawsuit. In March 2016, the Los Angeles County Department of Animal Care and Control opened an investigation after an episode of Millan’s Nat Geo Wild series “Cesar 911” showed a French bulldog mix chasing and nipping the ear of a pot-bellied pig during a training session, drawing blood.¹² Investigators and sheriff’s deputies visited the Santa Clarita center on March 10, 2016.¹³

After a nearly month-long inquiry, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office declined to file charges. Deputy District Attorney David Jacobs said there was “no evidence that the pig was used as bait,” that the contact was “merely a nip” that did not break the skin, and that the pig received immediate veterinary care.¹²

Arrest and Jail Rumors

Social media hoaxes have periodically claimed Millan was arrested or sentenced to prison. No criminal charges have ever been filed against him. The civil suits above were resolved by settlement, and the one government investigation closed without prosecution.¹

1
Concord P2C. Is Cesar Millan in Jail? Rumors Debunked
2
CityWatch LA. Lawsuit: Cesar Millan’s Pit Bull Kills Queen Latifah’s Dog in Training and Mauls Girl
3
People. Cesar Millan Denies Accusations That His Pit Bull Attacked a Gymnast and Killed Queen Latifah’s Dog
4
TMZ. Cesar Millan Sued Over Pit Bull Attack and Queen Latifah Dog Cover-Up
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Yahoo Entertainment. Cesar Millan Off the Hook After Covering Up Pit Bull Attack
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The Hollywood Reporter. Dog Whisperer Cesar Millan Sued Over Pit Bull Attack
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Los Angeles Times. Cesar Millan Sued Over Pit Bull Attack
8
Courthouse News Service. Dog Whisperer Blamed for Pit Bull Attack
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UPI. Cesar Millan Sued Over Alleged Pit Bull Attack
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Los Angeles Times. Dog Whisperer Sued by TV Producer
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Today. Dog Whisperer Sued by His TV Producer
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Los Angeles Times. Cesar Millan Animal Cruelty Probe
13
NBC Los Angeles. Dog Whisperer Cesar Millan Under Investigation for Possible Animal Cruelty