Cardi B has been in court for a mix of civil, criminal, and family matters, and the question of why Cardi B is in court most recently points to a four-day civil assault trial in Los Angeles County that ended on September 2, 2025, with a jury clearing her on every claim. Around that case sits a longer legal history: a closed criminal matter from a 2018 strip club brawl, a defamation judgment she won against a YouTuber, two copyright suits brought against her, and a divorce from rapper Offset that is still pending.
The 2025 Civil Assault Trial
The lawsuit that put Cardi B on a witness stand in 2025 was filed in 2020 by Emani Ellis, a former security guard at a Beverly Hills medical office building. Ellis sought $24 million and brought claims for assault, battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, and false imprisonment. The case was filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court as 20STCV07031.
The dispute traces to February 24, 2018, when Cardi B, then about four months pregnant and not yet public about the pregnancy, visited her obstetrician at an office that had been closed to other patients that day. Ellis said she recognized the rapper and said, “Wow, it’s Cardi B,” and that Cardi B then accused her of leaking the visit, spat on her, used racial slurs, and scratched her cheek with long nails, leaving a scar that she said later required plastic surgery. Ellis also alleged Cardi B’s team worked to erase surveillance footage.
Cardi B denied every allegation of physical contact. She testified that Ellis approached her holding a phone as if recording, that there was a loud profanity-filled argument, and that there was no touching, spitting, or slur. She described her nails at the time as one-inch rounded acrylics with flat rhinestones and said she could not have fought while pregnant.
How the Trial Played Out
Trial began on August 25, 2025, in an Alhambra courtroom before Judge Ian C. Fusselman. Cardi B was represented by Peter Anderson and Eric Lamm of Davis Wright Tremaine LLP and Lisa Moore of Moore Pequignot. Ellis was represented by Ron A. Rosen Janfaza. Court TV livestreamed the proceedings.
No surveillance footage of the incident existed, so the case turned on witnesses. Dr. David Finke, the obstetrician Cardi B was visiting, testified that he heard an intense verbal altercation but never saw the rapper strike or scratch Ellis, and that he saw Ellis strike his receptionist. That receptionist, Tierra Malcolm, testified she stepped between the two women, that Ellis reached over her toward the rapper, and that she herself was cut on the forehead during the scuffle. Malcolm said Cardi B was behind her when that happened, that she never saw Cardi B hit Ellis, and that she saw no blood or injuries on Ellis and no spitting.
A psychiatrist for the defense, Dr. James E. Rosenberg, found no evidence of emotional injury tied to the incident and testified that Ellis’s test scores were inconsistent with a genuine psychiatric disorder. A plastic surgeon, Dr. Brent Moelleken, described marks on Ellis’s cheek as “highly suggestive of fingernail injury,” but the defense noted Ellis’s involvement in car accidents in 2021 and 2023 and inconsistencies with her earlier deposition testimony about where on her face she was injured. The defense also pointed out that Ellis did not seek medical care or file a police report at the time, and that an incident report she did file made no mention of a bleeding injury.
The Verdict and the Motion for a New Trial
On September 2, 2025, the jury returned a unanimous verdict for Cardi B on all claims after roughly an hour of deliberation. She owed no damages. Speaking to reporters afterward, she said, “I work all day and I work hard for my money, for my kids, for the people that I take care of. So don’t you ever think that you’re going to sue me, and I’m just going to settle.”
During the trial’s lunch break that same day, Cardi B was filmed throwing a pen at a man in the press area who had asked her about her ex-husband Offset and her then-boyfriend Stefon Diggs. She told him, “Stop disrespecting me,” and added, “Why do you feel, as a man, you get to ask me those types of questions?” No charges followed, but on October 31, 2025, Ellis’s attorney filed a motion for a new trial arguing that the pen-throwing might have intimidated jurors and that the defense had improperly withheld the identities of Dr. Finke and Malcolm as witnesses.
Judge Fusselman denied the motion on December 5, 2025. He said, “I don’t find anything outside the courtroom had any impact on the jury’s deliberations,” and observed that the pen episode, if anything, might have helped Ellis’s case. The judge also signaled he would sanction Ellis’s attorney for repeatedly referencing a psychologist who had been barred from testifying, ordering him to pay defense attorney fees tied to a contempt motion.
The Queens Strip Club Criminal Case
Cardi B’s other assault-related matter was criminal, and it is closed. In August 2018 she was involved in two brawls at Angels Strip Club in Flushing, Queens. Prosecutors alleged she and co-defendants threw drinks, glass bottles, and other objects at bartenders, leaving one with cuts and bruising.
She rejected an early plea offer in April 2019, after which a Queens grand jury returned a 12-count indictment that included two felony counts of attempted assault carrying up to four years in prison. On September 15, 2022, she pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors: third-degree assault and second-degree reckless endangerment. The remaining ten counts, including both felonies, were dismissed. She was sentenced to 15 days of community service, and a three-year order of protection was entered for the two victims. In a statement at the time she said, “I’ve made some bad decisions in my past that I am not afraid to face and own up to. These moments don’t define me and they are not reflective of who I am now.”
Her Defamation Win Against Tasha K
In January 2022, a federal jury found YouTuber Latasha Kebe, known as Tasha K, liable for defamation, invasion of privacy, and intentional infliction of emotional distress over videos making false claims about Cardi B. The jury awarded Cardi B more than $4 million and ordered Kebe to remove the defamatory content.
Kebe’s appeal failed. In March 2023 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit dismissed the challenge, ruling that she had forfeited her right to appeal by failing to make necessary post-verdict motions and by not properly identifying alleged errors in the record. Kebe then filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. In October 2023 a bankruptcy judge held that $3.4 million of the judgment could not be discharged, keeping Kebe personally liable for that amount after bankruptcy.
Copyright Suits Brought Against Her
Two intellectual property cases have gone Cardi B’s way. In October 2022, a California jury ruled for her in a suit by Kevin Michael Brophy Jr., who alleged his distinctive back tattoo had been photoshopped onto a model for the cover of her 2016 mixtape Gangsta Bitch Music, Vol. 1. The jury found the cover art “transformative” under intellectual property law and did not cast Brophy in a false light, defeating roughly $5 million in claimed damages.
On March 30, 2026, a federal judge in Texas dismissed a $50 million copyright suit by production duo Kemika1956 over her song “Enough (Miami),” which the plaintiffs said infringed on their 2021 track “Greasy Frybread.” U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez ruled the plaintiffs failed to establish jurisdiction in Texas. The dismissal was without prejudice, so the underlying copyright claims were not decided on their merits.
The Divorce From Offset
Cardi B filed for divorce from rapper Offset (Kiari Cephus) in August 2024 in Bergen County Superior Court in New Jersey, seeking primary custody of their three children, Kulture, Wave Set, and Blossom. It was her second filing; the first, in September 2020 in Georgia, was withdrawn after the couple reconciled.
In early 2025, Offset sought joint legal custody with Cardi B’s home as the children’s primary residence and formally requested spousal support. Cardi B has publicly blamed delays on financial disputes, saying Offset wants alimony, one of her properties, and for her to cover his taxes. In mid-2025 she called him a “deadbeat dad” on social media and said she had been paying alone for the children’s security, schooling, and other costs for over a year. As of mid-2026 the divorce has not been finalized.