Tyreek Hill civil trial delivers mixed verdict from jury and estranged wife awarded $500K after asking for $8M to ‘restore her dignity’

DAILYMAIL.COM • 3h ago

By RICH JONES, US DEPUTY SPORTS EDITOR 03:22 14 Oct 2026, updated 03:38 14 Oct 2026

Tyreek Hill’s assault and battery civil trial delivered a mixed verdict as he was found liable on two of ten counts of battery after claims made by his estranged wife.

Lakeeta Vaccaro Hill was awarded $500,000 in compensatory damages by the Miami jury but they denied her claims for punitive damages.

Hill hugged one of his attorneys, Christi Bright, as the verdict was read and smiled and shook hands with his lawyers as he left the courtroom.

‘Mr. Hill was very pleased that he was able to get his story out and to be able to tell the world what he’s not been able to speak about,’ Bright told reporters. ‘He’s very grateful.’

The week-long civil trial saw both Hill and Vaccaro take to the stand and recount multiple allegations of physical and verbal abuse by the NFL star towards his wife.

The six-person jury reached a verdict after nearly four hours of deliberations. Hill, who suffered a devastating knee injury a year ago and has not played football since, is expected to try and sign with an NFL team in the near future.

The league could still punish him in relation to the case and said in a statement to PFT: ‘We have been monitoring developments in the matter which remains under review of the personal conduct policy.’

Hill’s playing situation was described by agent Drew Rosenhaus as ‘fluid’ speaking to a local news station. He added ‘a deal could happen any time.’

Vaccaro’s lawyer, Paul Schwiep, told the jury in closing arguments that ‘her account is consistent and it’s corroborated by contemporaneous evidence.’

He asked the jury to award her compensatory damages to the amount of $8 million to ‘restore her dignity’.

‘Money doesn’t undo the harm, but it’s just how our civil justice system works,’ Schwiep said.

Hill’s attorney, Michael Gottlieb, claimed to jurors the lawsuit was ‘all about money and divorce’ in his closing argument and said the abuse allegations only arose after she lost a claim for additional spousal support.

‘Her ambition to take his money wasn’t met. So she files this action,’ Gottlieb said.

During her testimony last week, Vaccaro, the sister of former NFL safety Kenny Vaccaro, claimed that Hill punched her in the stomach while she was pregnant with their daughter. She further claimed Hill pulled out her hair, shoved a smoldering blunt in her face, twisted her breasts and once left her on the side of the road.

Hill denied those claims last Thursday in Miami, while also accusing his estranged wife of stealing ‘around like [$60,000] a month,’ from a family account, pressuring him to force his mother out of their home and onto the street, and being indirectly responsible for the fire that levelled their South Florida mansion.

He did not specifically explain how Vaccaro or the former couple’s arguments led to the 2024 blaze, which was originally blamed on a child playing with a lighter in an upstairs bathroom.

‘I feel like me and [Keeta’s] arguments were part of the reason why my house burned down,’ Hill said.

In a statement provided to The Daily Mail, Vaccaro’s attorney Evan Marks rejected Hill’s accusations on his client’s behalf: ‘The statements made by Mr. Hill are completely and totally false.’

Hill did not deny all of Vaccaro’s allegations.

For instance, he admitted to throwing her up against a wall, and also apologized for cursing out both her and her mother in a recorded rant.

‘As I’m getting my clothes, I feel somebody brush up behind me,’ Hill said. ‘And that person brushing up behind me is my wife, and I’m like, hold on, hold on… That continued for like five minutes.

‘I told her don’t you ever touch me again in your life. I pushed her against the wall. And I tried to force her to get off me. I created a hole in the wall, trying to force her to get off me that night.’

Hill also admitted to making threats to Vaccaro.

‘I did, I did make statements about she wasn’t safe,’ Hill said. ‘I did make statements about me being able to get people to hurt her. Like now, looking back, I wish I could have handled that situation better.

‘I wish I could have talked to my wife better. I wish I could take it all back.’

According to Hill, the former couple’s fights centered on his insistence that she sign a post-nuptial agreement, his claims that she stole from him, as well as her accusations of infidelity against him.

‘I would literally have conversations with the mothers of my [other] kids and she would be, ‘You’re doing, X, Y, Z with them. You’re being intimate with them,’ he said.

Hill also claimed Vaccaro opposed his decision to buy his mother a home after she was displaced when the couple’s mansion burned down in 2024. Meanwhile, Hill said, Vaccaro brought her mother to stay with them for ‘two years’ following the birth of their child.

Hill described their 18-month marriage as a tumultuous time in his life, that he believes harmed his career with the Miami Dolphins. He has remained a free agent since the end of the 2025 season, when he suffered a significant knee injury that ultimately required surgery.

Hill’s mother-in-law also testified, claiming the couple’s relationship was chaotic as she was cross-examined for around 90 minutes.

In court, Alesia Vaccaro testified that she didn’t directly witness the former Dolphins star hit or punch her daughter. However, she described their relationship as ‘tumultuous.’

These days, Hill is rehabbing in hopes of joining an NFL team – something his agent Drew Rosenhaus said he has discussed with several franchises.

‘I felt like if you look at my career before and my career after I got married it was, like, trending down,’ he said. ‘And it was, like, bad. I was like, “man, am I really putting this product on the field? Do I really look that bad?” It was hard.’

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