An attorney representing Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua referred to the biting incident that left him facing a lawsuit and possible battery charges was “a minor incident’” and said it “caused little harm.”
The attorney, Levi McCathern, II, made his comments Tuesday, July 21, after USA TODAY Sports published a photo of the injury a woman said she suffered when Nacua bit her Dec. 31, 2025.
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Joseph Kar, the woman’s attorney, provided USA TODAY Sports a color copy of a photo in court documents.
“This is just another attorney, along with his client, trying to turn a minor incident into a multimillion-dollar payday,’’ McCathern said in written comments provided to USA TODAY Sports by his law firm. “I think most people see this for what it is, a young man’s mistake that caused little harm. Now they’re going after one of the NFL’s brightest young stars because they see dollar signs.’’
McCathern added, “We have to stop rewarding this type of behavior, where every minor incident involving a public figure is treated like a winning lottery ticket.”
The woman, who filed a lawsuit against Nacua with the Los Angeles County Superior Court March 25, suffered a micropuncture from the bite and had to get a tetanus shot, according to Kar.
A photo provided by Joseph Kar, an attorney representing a woman suing Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua, shows an alleged bit mark from Nacua. USA TODAY Sports obtained a black and white version of the photo in court documents.
Will Puka Nacua face criminal charges for biting incident?
Nacau, 25, faces possible misdemeanor battery charges with the City Attorney handling the case. But on Monday a spokesman for the City Attorney said by email that “the matter is currently on track to be resolved through pre-filing diversion.”
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The Prefiling Diversion Program “diverts individuals detained for non-serious/non-violent misdemeanors and felonies to community supports, in lieu of criminal charges being filed (which could entail prosecution and jail time),” according to the Justice, Care and Opportunities Department of Los Angeles County website.
The biting incident took place after a New Year’s Eve dinner in Los Angeles, according to the lawsuit.
A Case Management Conference statement filed Monday, July 20, as part of the woman’s civil lawsuit against Nacua said in part that Nacua “engaged the crisis management team to besmirch and falsely portray the Plaintiff ‘as horseplaying.'”
On Tuesday, McCathern responded.
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“I don’t even know what a ‘crisis management team’ is,’’ he said. “I’m one person speaking for Puka, and my job is to defend him when he’s unfairly attacked.’’
McCathern has previously denied the allegations in the lawsuit.
“Puka denies these allegations in the strongest possible terms,” McCathern said in a March statement to USA TODAY Sports. “We will be filing a defamation lawsuit and pursuing all available legal remedies in response to these false and damaging statements.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Puka Nacua’s lawyer blasts accuser, says biting was ‘minor incident’ | Exclusive
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