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Friday, April 19, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

‘Real Housewife’s’ Pit Bull Bites Again, Stylist Says

LOS ANGELES (CN) — "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" star Kim Richards has been sued for a third time over her pit bull Kingsley, this time by a stylist claiming the dog bit her in the stomach and groin.

Paige Elisabeth Sanderson sued Richards, her sister Kyle Richards Umansky, Kingsley's co-owner Chad Davis, and Richards' business manager and lawyer Michael London in Los Angeles Superior Court on Thursday.

According to Sanderson's 34-page complaint, Richards invited Sanderson to Umansky's home on April 6, 2016, so Sanderson could style her for a promotional event. At the time, Kingsley was shut in Davis' room and Davis "complained that people were in the house when Kingsley was there and said someone would be bitten if they did not leave," Sanderson says.

Kingsley had previously bitten both Umansky's daughter and an elderly family friend, Sanderson says in the complaint, adding that that Kingsley "had an extremely vicious and unusually dangerous nature and a propensity to attack, bite, and severely injured people without provocation."

For reasons not made clear in her complaint, Sanderson says Davis opened his bedroom door and released Kingsley. Sanderson, concerned for her safety, says she hid in a bathroom until Richards assured her that Kingsley was fine and that she could come back into the bedroom.

However, when Sanderson opened the door Kingsley attacked her, biting her lower abdomen and groin area. Sanderson "started to go into shock and bleed profusely" and asked Richards to call 911, according to the complaint.

But Sanderson says that Richards — worried about the negative publicity from another attack — refused to help Sanderson until she agreed to say that a stray dog had bitten her instead of Kingsley. Richards then delayed getting Sanderson medical care by calling London to come take Sanderson to the hospital, Sanderson says in her complaint.

She adds that Richards agreed to pay her medical bills as long as she maintained that a stray dog had bitten her. London filled out Sanderson's hospital forms, stating in them that she'd been attacked by a stray dog, and stayed with Sanderson at the hospital telling staff that Sanderson had been bitten by a stray dog, the complaint says.

Sanderson's attorney, Alan Daneshrad, told Courthouse News that her "injuries are quite substantial, much greater than in the previous cases. Sanderson almost lost her life in the incident." He cited the lack of immediate medical attention as a serious factor in this case and said "the attack could have been prevented."

Courthouse News records indicate that Richards has been sued over Kingsley in 2014 and 2015, and paid a childhood friend $8,000 this past year to resolve a biting incident.

Sanderson is suing for strict liability, violation of California's dog bite law, negligence, emotional distress, assault and battery. She seeks general, special and punitive damages.

Daneshrad's practice is in Beverly Hills.

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