Nicola Peltz Beckham Ends Legal Battle Over Dogs Death

Beckham has dropped her two-year battle against the dog groomers who she accused of killing her beloved chihuahua Nala.

The actress and wife of Brooklyn Peltz Beckham filed a lawsuit against the groomers HoundSpa LLC, its owner Deborah and groomer Jony Ceballos in July 2024.

She said that her dog had been 'happy and healthy' when it went for a standard groom, but had died after collapsing in distress afterwards. The heiress, 31, said she treated the pet 'like her own child', adding that she has been left 'emotionally distressed by the whole ordeal', particularly after witnessing Nala's death.

In Nicola's lawsuit, filed by the notoriously tough lawyer Marty Singer, she called Ceballos' conduct 'severe and outrageous' and said her dog 'was in serious physical distress with her lungs full of water, chest pulsating and hyperventilating' after the routine grooming appointment. Despite being rushed to the vets, Nala died within hours.

The lawsuit adds: 'It was only after Nala's tragic death that Nicola understood that, upon information and belief, Ceballos was also apparently responsible for the death of her dog, Frankie, in 2022.

'In the summer of 2022, Nicola had used HoundSpa to groom her French bulldog, named Frankie. Ceballos was the groomer whom HoundSpa sent for Frankie's grooming.

'Upon returning from his grooming with Ceballos, Frankie was in visible physical distress, repeatedly stumbling as if he had been sedated.

'Nicola cried, and cared for her dog – not at that time suspecting that an individual charged with caring for her dog would have hurt him.'

She adds that another dog Angel still suffers from trauma after being groomed by Ceballos 'and has developed a fear of being left in a room alone and whenever left in a room alone, she starts to shake and scream in apparent terror.'

Nicola also said that her brother and his girlfriend had complained to Gittleman about Ceballos who had groomed his dog, Banksy.

Documents signed earlier this month at the New York Supreme Court indicate that all parties have now agreed to permanently discontinue the lawsuit without paying costs, expenses or legal fees to each other.

The lawyer for Houndspa and its owner Deborah Gittleman Anthony J Siano said: 'The civil litigation involving the passing of Ms Peltz Beckham's dog, Nala, has been discontinued.

'All parties to that civil action have exchanged extensive documentation and all parties concluded that the death of Nala was not intentional. All persons involved in the matter share the grief and disappointment that comes from the passing of Nala.'

Nicola Peltz Beckham had been warned last year that she would need to provide the necropsy report for Nala if the lawsuit went to trial. 

The groomer, Jony Ceballos, denied that he played a role in the dog's death and his lawyer argued that Nicola Peltz Beckham was 'liable for her comparative negligence'.

Nicola's billionaire father Nelson Peltz recently settled a lawsuit brought by a former housemaid Mileydis Morejon, who complained that she had been attacked by the family's pit bull, Houdini. 

Mileydis Morejon, 29, settled out of court with Peltz. She had been seeking damages of $75,000.