DaBaby won a courtroom victory Wednesday when a judge dismissed him from the lawsuit claiming he physically attacked Brandon Bills, the brother of his ex-girlfriend DaniLeigh, during a Los Angeles bowling alley brawl more than three years ago.
Bills claimed in his lawsuit filed Feb. 16, 2022, that the rapper, born Jonathan Kirk, “aggressively approached” him at Corbin Bowl the night of the incident and threatened to rough him up “in a loud bellicose manner” before he allegedly snapped. Bills, whose legal name is Brandon Curiel, claimed Kirk physically assaulted him, causing him “severe injury.”
But in his ruling Wednesday, Los Angeles County Judge Huey P. Cotton said Curiel utterly failed to pursue his case in a timely manner. The judge said Curiel never attempted to serve Kirk, 33, with the help of a sheriff and failed to seek an order to serve by publication until more than two years after the complaint was filed. Once he got permission to serve by publication, Curiel failed at that as well, the judge said.
“The only thing that made timely service difficult was plaintiff’s own lack of urgency,” the judge wrote. “Plaintiff’s own briefing establishes lack of diligence.”
The judge noted that while Curiel had informed the court that one of Kirk’s security guards allegedly “brandished a weapon” at a process server, “the weapon brandishing incident occurred when Corbin Bowl and not plaintiff attempted to serve defendant in North Carolina, nearly two years after the complaint was filed.”
The judge also ruled Wednesday that Curiel’s negligence claims against Corbin could proceed. Corbin, meanwhile, has filed a cross-complaint against Kirk, saying any liability should rest with him. A jury trial in the case has been set for October 2026.
Police previously confirmed to Rolling Stone that investigators were looking into Curiel’s claims that DaBaby — real name Jonathan Kirk — started the fight that spilled out onto the bowling lanes and was captured on video shared online by TMZ. An assault with a deadly weapon report was taken at the scene, but no arrests were made.
DaniLeigh, 30, shares a daughter with Kirk. Their relationship has been turbulent. In late 2021, she was feeding their daughter at his residence when he started recording a video and called police to physically remove her from the penthouse.
The singer, songwriter, dancer, and choreographer purportedly said in a screenshot Instagram post that she considered DaBaby “lame as hell” for going after her sibling. “Running up on my brother on some slippery ass floors with 5/6 of ya boys while he’s by himself and not even touching him! Lame and so sad! I pray this stops now! Bc this is my family! And I got a daughter to raise. Sad.”
Kirk’s lawyer, meanwhile, previously told Rolling Stone that Curiel had a history of “threatening and challenging (Kirk) to physical violence.”
“It is offensive that this alleged victim threatened and instigated violence and has now used this incident to make a quick money grab,” lawyer Drew Findling said in the statement after the lawsuit was filed. “The criminal justice system has a current massive buildup of cases due to the pandemic. Garbage like this has no place adding to the backlog and wasting law enforcement time and energy.”
Lawyers for Kirk and Curiel did not immediately respond to Rolling Stone‘s requests for comment on Wednesday.
