Brooklyn Beckham’s father-in-law Nelson Peltz is sued by housemaid ‘terrorised by pitbull from Nicola’s shelter that repeatedly attacked her’

Billionaire Nelson Peltz is being sued by a maid who claims she was terrorized by the pit bull she rescued and had to fend it off with a vacuum cleaner attachment.

Cleaner Miledys Morejon is seeking $75,000 (£55,000) after she allegedly ran away from aggressive shelter dog Houdini and hid in a cupboard to avoid being bitten.

Ms Morejon claims the dog was dangerous and untrained and repeatedly attacked her at the family’s $300 million Palm Beach mansion in Florida in 2023.

In one alleged incident, Morejon claimed the animal tore his clothing during an attempted attack.

In another, he claimed he fell to the ground trying to escape from the dog after it allegedly lunged and attempted to attack him, according to the lawsuit.

But Peltz’s lawyers say the ‘Beware of Dog’ sign on the house should relieve them of liability for the pet and are asking the court to dismiss the case on summary judgment.

“It is undisputed that Plaintiff was not bitten by Mr. Peltz’s dog and that no physical contact was made with Mr. Peltz’s dog during the incident at issue,” his attorneys wrote.

Ms. Morejon’s lawyers say she always entered her $300 million Palm Beach mansion through the service entrance and never saw the sign.

Houdini was at the Yogi’s House animal sanctuary run by the actress (Nicola filmed with Houdini)

Tycoon Peltz was given this pet by her daughter Nicola Peltz Beckham (Brooklyn Beckham’s wife) about three years ago from the Yogi’s House animal sanctuary, which the actress runs.

An Instagram post at the time read: ‘This video makes me want to cry. My dad adopted the dog Houdini @itsyogishouse. This is their first night as a family.’

In his complaint, Morejon alleged that Houdini “had an evil nature, a bad temper, and/or a tendency to attack and/or attempt to attack that was known or should have been known to the Peltzes.”

The alleged attacks in November 2023 occurred ‘without any provocation, suddenly and without warning’.

He alleges that because the defendants “failed to reasonably secure, train, or supervise Houdini to prevent his attack,” he “suffered sustained injuries to his back, neck, and both knees, for which he was subjected to multiple pain management procedures.”

Morejon alleges in court documents that, as a direct result of the alleged assaults and the owner’s negligence, he suffered physical and mental pain and suffering, disability, physical impairment, disfigurement and mental anguish, as well as loss of earnings and loss of capacity to enjoy life.

The cleaner’s lawyers, Nicola Peltz, asked Beckham to testify, but lawyers for her businessman father Peltz refused, saying she knew nothing about the dispute.

The legal case was filed in May of last year, and in October of last year Nelson Peltz’s lawyers offered to settle, but that offer was rejected and the case is ongoing.

Documents filed in Palm Beach County court show that the maid did not speak directly to Peltz and his wife, Claudia, but to M&M Security Inc., who employed her. He reveals that he received instructions from his manager at the agency.

During his statement on September 15 last year, Morejon was asked: ‘Did you know the people living in the house?’ The defense lawyer replied ‘yes’ before continuing, ‘So would you talk to them?’ ‘No’ he replied.

‘So did they direct you on what to do while you were working, or were the instructions coming from Charles?’ He said: ‘Mr Charles will be the one to tell us what to do.’

‘So cleaning up after the dogs was part of your job responsibilities. If they had fallen to the ground, you would have cleaned them up; Is this fair?’ he asked the lawyer. He agreed: ‘Yes, yes.’

Billionaire Nelson Peltz is locked in a legal dispute with a maid who says she was terrorized by the pit bull she rescued

Her role was ‘to greet him and pet him… and some of the girls would give him dog crackers and stuff.’

Peltz’s team filed a motion to block ‘references to wealth, net worth, income and/or financial status’ if the case comes to trial. They say: ‘The reason courts are so strict about this rule is that jurors tend to favor the poor over the rich, and if provoked by such provocative evidence, the jury is likely to apply the deep-pocket theory of liability. ‘

They add that he is an independent contractor and ‘they have no duty to protect’ from injuries on the property.

They also say he changed his story from the dog attacking him as he walked towards the elevator to ‘a dog inside chased him and caused him to run away and fall’.

In response to their motion, Morejon’s attorneys argued that discovery had not yet been completed, key witnesses such as Nicola had not yet been deposed, and therefore the motion for summary judgment was “premature and fundamentally flawed.”

Peltz’s legal team made a motion to reduce past and future medical expenses.

They allege that he received treatment from the health care provider ‘in exchange for a promise to pay for the plaintiff’s medical expenses resulting from any judgment or settlement of his personal injury or wrongful death lawsuit.’

They want a full breakdown of medical treatment to avoid ‘gross or non-deductible billing charges’.

These must include: ‘All inpatient, outpatient and emergency department records, including but not limited to reports, charts, documents, microfilmed documents, radiology reports and radiology studies including ultrasound, x-ray, MRI and CT, pathology slides, service invoices (paid or unpaid), emergency department discharge instructions, correspondence, laser copies of photographs, psychological records, records requests and any and all other evidence relating to examination, therapeutic care, diagnosis, physical and mental condition.’

Peltz had previously fired his daughter’s wedding planners and then filed a lawsuit. Nelson, reportedly worth $2 billion, sued Nicole Braghin and Arianna Grijalba of Miami event planning firm Plan Design Events (PDE) over a $159,000 deposit for Nicola’s lavish wedding to Beckham. The former Wendy’s president claimed wedding planners who only worked on the wedding for nine days provided ‘no service of value’. The lawsuit and countersuit were concluded in November 2023.