Baseball shortstop Nick Gordon has been ordered to pay Bobbi Kristina Brown’s family $36 million after he was found legally responsible for the death of the late TV personality and girlfriend.
Bobbi Kristina — daughter of late songstress Whitney Houston — died in July 2015 after six months in coma.
Gordon was not in court, just as he has failed to be there throughout the case. Fulton County Superior Court Judge T Jackson Bedford said because he had failed to appear twice, anything alleged by the plaintiff was admitted through omission, and agreed to award damages to Bobbi Kristina’s estate, who had initially been seeking $40 million, reports eonline.com.
The judge heard the testimony from Bobbi’s famous father, Bobby Brown, as well as some of her friends, as he assessed the losses and attempted to place a value on the deceased’s life.
“To determine the value of a life is pretty difficult. So the court has been back there primarily struggling with that particular issue,” the judge said.
The damages awarded in the civil case, which alleged Bobbi Kristina died due to a violent altercation with Gordon, after which he placed her in a bathtub, unconscious, after he injected her with a toxic mixture, included $15 million for present value of life, $13.8 million for pain and suffering as a result of assault, $250,000 in punitive damages, $1.37 million for assault and battery and $1.575 million for money taken from an account, including allegedly stolen rings.
