Britney Spears was sued on May 5 by a dancer who alleges the pop star accidentally broke the plaintiff’s nose during a video shoot rehearsal last year.
Dawn Noel Pignuola, known professionally as Dawn Noel, filed the suit in Los Angeles Superior Court against Spears and the celebrity management service Reign Deer Entertainment LLC, alleging battery and negligence and seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
A representative for the 32-year-old singer could not be immediately reached.
In her suit, Noel alleges that Spears was “unbalanced” and “disheveled” when she showed up last Aug. 19 at a Woodland Hills dance studio to practice for the Work Bitch video shoot.
Noel alleges that after about a half-hour of rehearsing, she was standing to Spears’ side when the singer “twirled in the unbalanced and reckless manner, arms extended out to her sides, and forcefully backhanded … Noel directly in the face.”
Noel and the other dancers heard a “cracking sound” that they knew was the plaintiff’s nose breaking, according to her lawsuit, which says Spears said, “Sorry,” then continued to try and learn the dance routine.
Noel kept rehearsing another 30 minutes before the pain caused her to leave and see a doctor, according to her court papers.
According to Noel, Spears promised to pay her medical bills and she told the singer she would keep the incident private, but a representative for the singer told the plaintiff months later that she would not be compensated after all.
Spears is currently performing in Las Vegas, Nev., as part of a residency at Planet Hollywood Hotel on the Strip.
