Los Angeles Rams star wide receiver Puka Nacua spent the 2025 season dealing with problems. The $25,000 fine for publicly blasting NFL officials came first. Then, a civil lawsuit landed this March, accusing him of assault and battery, gender violence, and negligence. By April, his attorney had confirmed he was in a Malibu rehabilitation facility. And on Monday, May 11th, the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office added its own update to his file.

Deputy Director of Communications Ivor B. Pine told the New York Post that prosecutors won’t file criminal charges against Nacua – for now. The case has been referred to a pre-filing diversion process instead.

“This matter has been assigned for a City Attorney Hearing, a pre-filing diversion available to eligible individuals that is an alternative to misdemeanor criminal prosecution,” Pine said. “Charges are not filed against the respondent at this time; however, the case stays open throughout the length of the statute of limitations. It can be re-evaluated if there are further developments.”

If Puka Nacua can complete the pre-filing diversion, the case won’t need to go to trial, as the City Attorney’s Office only handles misdemeanor cases. Whether Nacua qualifies for the program hasn’t been confirmed yet, while no specific charges have been filed either.

The story goes back to New Year’s Eve in Century City. Plaintiff Madison Atiabi filed a civil lawsuit in the Superior Court of Los Angeles County in late March. The lawsuit alleges that Nacua made an antisemitic statement during a group dinner, and later bit Atiabi on the shoulder in a van, leaving what she described as a “circular imprint of his teeth on her body.” The subsequent lawsuit charged Nacua with assault and battery, gender violence, and negligence.

But Nacua’s attorney, Levi McCathern, called the antisemitic allegations a “blatant lie” and described the biting as “horseplay.” He also announced his plans to file a defamation lawsuit against Atiabi, saying that sober witnesses from the scene would back Nacua’s side of the story.  As for Nacua’s side, in April, McCathern confirmed Nacua had voluntarily entered rehab before the allegations became public.

“He was in [rehab] a substantial period of time before any of these allegations broke,” McCathern noted, “and he’s scheduled to be there for a while longer.”

Nacua’s rehab, per McCathern, was “to improve his overall behavior in every aspect of his life.” And that does track because the biting case didn’t arrive in a vacuum.

In December 2025, after Nacua publicly went after NFL officials – first on a livestream with Adin Ross, then in a since-deleted social media post – the league fined him $25,000. The narratives around Nacua were gaining so much momentum that his quarterback, Matthew Stafford, addressed it on a podcast shortly after.

“He’s an outstanding football player. He plays at an unbelievable clip for our team,” Stafford said. “Like I said, there’s learning opportunities for him all over the place. He’s a young kid, he’s trying to figure it out. He’s got a lot of opportunities to have his voice be heard; we gotta do as good as job as we possibly can, making sure that whatever comes out is a positive thing.”

Stafford’s message was measured, but the pattern it points to isn’t. The fine, the antisemitic gesture, rehab, and now a biting lawsuit that’s still alive in civil court – Nacua has spent six months collecting problems that don’t go away because a city attorney chose the quieter path. The accuser’s side is still in court and still talking.

Atiabi’s attorney is not done with Puka Nacua

Joseph Kar, Atiabi’s attorney, didn’t read Monday’s ruling as a setback. In a recent statement, he made it clear that the city attorney’s proceeding – diversion or otherwise – validates his client, not Nacua.

“We feel validated that the city attorney is proceeding with its charge for battery to a hearing,” Kar noted. “This dispels the false narrative Mr. Nacua and his crisis team tried to push to the press before Mr. Nacua entered a drug and alcohol rehabilitation facility. The City attorney proceedings are not a formal criminal filing but have very serious implications for an accused defendant, especially for a famous football player in the prime of his career, such as Makea Puka Nacua.”

Nacua’s attorney McCathern has not publicly responded to Kar’s statement. His position on record remains that the allegations are false. In April, Nacua’s legal team filed a formal response to the civil lawsuit. That lawsuit challenged Atiabi’s claims and presented defenses that spread the blame on both of them.

But Kar is calling a pre-filing diversion “validated.” Nacua is entering his prime with a contract situation looming ahead of him. But the word “battery” is still formally attached to a proceeding with Nacua’s name. That’s the kind of thing that follows you into every negotiation.
Kar made it clear that regardless of where the city attorney process goes, the civil case is staying on track.

“Of course, the city attorney’s office hearing is different than the civil case, and we have no control over how the city attorney’s office operates. While my client harbors no ill will toward Mr. Nacua, she demands that the city attorney treat this matter very seriously, and she will be proceeding with all her civil claims and causes of action in the due course of her pending action.”

Puka Nacua avoided criminal charges. That civil lawsuit is still active; the city attorney’s case stays open for the full statute of limitations, and Kar just told the press his client is pushing forward against Nacua on every front. The Rams get their receiver back on the field. But the rest of this narrative isn’t going away anytime soon.