Artist News Legal

Bieber implicated in scrape with Hawaiian paparazzo

By Aly Barchi | Published on Friday 22 August 2014

As Justin Bieber spirals down, down, down and still farther down into a slimy, crime-y bog of yolk-attacks, attempted phone nicking and possible drag-racing, his dedicated legal team is now dealing with another lil lawsuit, this time newly-emerging ‘infliction of emotional distress’ claims made by a paparazzo against the singer.

Photog Aja Oxman is suing young Justin for around $25,000 in damages following an incident that happened last year in Hawaii. Oxman claims in his suit that the Bieber ordered his bodyguard, one Dwayne Patterson, to take away his (Oxman’s) camera memory card, after Oxman was caught taking photos of Bieber diving into the sea off a cliff. He also alleges that Bieber had a hand in breaking his camera, though not that the pop boy himself attacked him.

Whilst Bieber was neither arrested nor charged at the time – due to lack of evidence of his involvement, the court confirms – Patterson, who Oxman accused of placing him in a chokehold, was in fact taken into custody on suspicion of assault, and later charged with second-degree robbery for taking and breaking the camera. He pleaded no contest to charges of criminal damage and harassment, and had to pay a fine of $6000.

But the civil litigation targets Bieber, presumably on the grounds he allegedly instructed Patterson to attack. And if the whole ‘Bieber v Paparazzi’ scenario feels a bit familiar, that’s because it is. A similar case, also still pending, dates back to a situation last June involving another photog, Jeffrey Binion, who alleges he was assaulted by one of Bieber’s bodyguards, at Bieber’s behest, after he tried to take snaps of the popstar.

And for anyone having difficulty placing that particular lawsuit, it’s the one with the nightmarish deposition video.

Perhaps not shockingly, Team Bieber have not commented on any of the above.