LOS ANGELES (CN) - An LAX worker sued Halle Berry and her husband for $5 million, claiming they assaulted and battered him at the airport in a fracas that became an Internet video hit.
Ronaldo Owens sued Berry and Olivier Martinez on Monday in Superior Court. He claims he was working in an LAX arrival area on Jan. 4 when Martinez "brutally and intentionally charged" at him, "without any provocation or justification," and struck him down to the ground with a child's car seat.
He says Berry aided and abetted in the assault and battery.
Martinez, a French actor, married Berry in 2013.
The video, posted on YouTube, shows the couple walking from an arrival gate toward the exit, hounded by a horde of paparazzi, with flashes. Berry holds her hand in front of her face, obviously to shield herself from the flash bulbs, and at some point a man identified in the lawsuit as Martinez shoves another man with a car seat. The man falls.
Owens claims Berry and Martinez "have a common plan and scheme to act in this way for numerous reasons including, but not limited to, as a publicity stunt, due to anger management issues, and for other reasons."
He seeks punitive damages for assault, battery, negligence and emotional distress.
He is represented by David Ryan Welch.
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