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A woman who accused Cardi B of assault and battery has been denied a second trial.

In September, the WAP hitmaker - whose real name is Belcalis Almanzar - was found not liable in a civil lawsuit brought against her by security guard Emani Ellis, who took action in 2020 over an alleged incident two years prior, and she secured another victory on Friday (05.12.25) when a judge found no basis to overturn the original verdict.

Emani's legal team had argued the jurors were "intimidated" by Cardi after seeing her throw a pen outside the courthouse shortly before the verdict was returned, and requested two witnesses be barred for late disclosure.

Video footage had showed the 33-year-old rapper toss a pen to the ground after YouTuber Donat Ricketts quizzed her about her rumoured pregnancy - which she didn't announce until two weeks after the trial - as she told him not to "disrespect" her.

Los Angeles County Judge Ian Fusselman was given a sworn declaration from the vlogger, who claimed the pen bounced off the ground and stuck him, with the incident seen by a witness, who he claimed approached him afterwards with a group of people who asked if he planned to sue, which he was not.

Cardi argued the pen "hit no one" and suggestions the jurors were intimidated as a result was hearsay.

According to Rolling Stone, the judge noted Emani's lawyer had sought an instruction about the incident which would have ensured jurors heard what had happened, and if anything, he felt the row would have supported the security guard's claims, rather than scaring them.

He said: "We're speculating about how it impacted them. Wouldn't that tend to help your case, rather than hurt it? Isn't that why you wanted the jury to find out about it? You came into court and said, 'I want jury to know this just happened.'

"They were free to ask any questions or make any comments, and they didn't. I don't find anything outside the courtroom had any impact on the jury's deliberations."

Cardi was also accused by Emani's lawyer, Ron Rosen Janfaza, of having "intentionally hid" the identity of obstetrician Dr. David Finke and receptionist Tierra Malcolm after Cardi insisted she wasn't sure of the doctor's name in the early stages of the lawsuit because it was a one-off visit.

The lawyer wrote: "[It] is undisputed that defendant's counsel learned of the doctor's name by repeatedly going office-to-office in his building.

"Importantly, plaintiff knew all along the identity of the doctor and his receptionist who intervened. Plaintiff was working as a security guard at the building, and shortly after the incident, plaintiff tried to enlist Ms. Malcolm in plaintiff's scheme to sue defendant."

But the judge noted that while he allowed the two to be added to the witness list after an initial cut-off period, Emani had also been allowed to add names to her proposed list even later.

As well as ruling in favour of Cardi, Judge Fusselman made it clear he planned to sanction Emani's lawyer over his conduct during the trial after he repeatedly told jurors that his client had been treated by a psychologist, even though the doctor had been barred as a witness and no evidence was offered to show they had ever met in person.

The judge said: "I have trouble believing it was an innocent mistake when you did it over and over again."

He also noted he would issue an order requiring the lawyer to pay attorney's fees to the defence counsel related to their request he be held in contempt.

Emani had alleged Cardi had spit on her face, used racial slurs and cut her face with her fingernail in her lawsuit.

She also alleged the rapper, who was four months pregnant at the time, had "used her celebrity status" to get her fired from her job and sued over claims of assault and battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence and false imprisonment following the incident.

The Drip singer denied the allegations and accused the woman of instigating the altercation by following her down the hallway at the doctor's office and trying to record her.

Cardi insisted the altercation had never turned physical but admitted they were standing "chest to chest" and she yelled: "B****, get the f*** out of my face."