Dr. Dare Ajibade Lawsuits: What Patients Need to Know About the Cosmetic Surgeon's Legal and Regulatory History

ABC13 Houston's 13 Investigates unit published its investigation of Dr. Ajibade on August 18, 2026, profiling four patients and reporting that he now faces four malpractice lawsuits filed within roughly a year. Two of the profiled patients died. The report covers the Virginia case detailed below, and, as ABC13 notes, that lawsuit was filed by attorney Peter Anderson.

The report also describes cases this article had not previously covered. Adebola Britt, 49, went into cardiac arrest in the recovery room after a liposuction and abdominoplasty at the Houston clinic on November 7, 2025, and died five days later; the medical examiner ruled her death a sudden death following the procedures, and ABC13 reports her family has retained counsel but has not yet filed suit. Junis Maldonado, 27, suffered seizures and cardiopulmonary arrest during a May liposuction in San Antonio; a lawsuit filed on June 23 alleges she was deprived of oxygen and left with severe, permanent brain injuries, now requiring a tracheostomy and feeding tube. Rosa Caldera told ABC13 her liposuction lasted roughly ten hours and left her with a third-degree burn that required skin graft surgery; her lawsuit was filed in July.

ABC13 further reports a Texas Medical Board settlement with a fine and continuing-education requirement over a liposuction that the board found did not conform to the standard of care, two Harris County suits over unpaid medical equipment, and a suit by a former business partner alleging record-keeping failures. Per the report, Dr. Ajibade is licensed in nine states, seven currently active, and now practices in Miami, Florida. He denies the negligence allegations in the Virginia case and did not respond to ABC13's repeated requests for comment. Every claim above is an allegation or a reported finding, not a court judgment.

Dr. Dare Ajibade is a plastic surgeon whose practice centers on outpatient liposuction and body contouring. Court records place him at DVA Plastic Surgery in Houston, Texas, and at an AirSculpt-branded liposuction clinic in Vienna, Virginia, operated by EBS Virginia, LLC. According to KFF Health News, he has since relocated to Texas, where he now practices at a Sono Bello location in San Antonio.

That geography matters for former patients. The Vienna clinic drew patients from across the Washington, D.C. metro area, including Northern Virginia and Maryland, and the Houston practice served patients across southeast Texas. If you had a procedure with Dr. Ajibade in either place, the cases described below may be relevant to you.

The Texas Medical Board issued a remedial plan against Dr. Ajibade after finding that he failed to meet the standard of care while treating a patient during a liposuction procedure. Under Texas law, a remedial plan is classified as a non-disciplinary settlement, reserved for lower-level violations, so it is not formal discipline. It is, however, a formal public board order: it appears on the physician's board profile, and it reflects the board's conclusion that the care in question fell short of what the profession requires. It is considerably more than a complaint.

The most serious of the pending cases is a wrongful death and survival action filed in the Circuit Court for Fairfax County, Virginia, in November 2025. Gavin Easley brought the complaint on behalf of the estate of his mother, Susan Chuwa Easley, against EBS Virginia, LLC d/b/a AirSculpt, Jamachi, Inc., and Dr. Ajibade.

According to the complaint, Ms. Easley was a 59-year-old USAID employee and Army veteran who was cleared for surgery in excellent health. On May 9, 2024, she underwent laser-assisted liposuction with fat transfer at the AirSculpt facility in Vienna. The surgery lasted more than six and a half hours. The complaint alleges Dr. Ajibade administered roughly 56 milligrams of lidocaine per kilogram of her body weight, well above the 35 mg/kg ceiling generally recognized as safe and above AirSculpt's own 50 mg/kg guideline. Lidocaine at that level can cause local anesthetic systemic toxicity, a condition that can lead to sudden cardiac death if it is not recognized and treated.

The complaint alleges Ms. Easley showed signs of toxicity immediately after surgery, including vomiting, and was discharged about an hour after the procedure ended. She called the clinic to report ongoing nausea and vomiting; the complaint alleges no one told her to seek emergency care. Her son found her dead four days later. An autopsy attributed her death to sudden cardiac death associated with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease following the procedure.

The case has drawn national attention. KFF Health News covered it in December 2025 as part of an investigation into outpatient cosmetic surgery chains, reporting that the company has denied the allegations in court filings and that neither Dr. Ajibade nor the Virginia clinic responded to requests for comment.

A second suit, filed in Harris County, Texas, was brought by patient Ebony Williams against Dr. Ajibade and DVA Plastic Surgery. The petition alleges Dr. Ajibade failed to properly prepare her for surgery, failed to monitor her during and after the procedure, and failed to treat her post-surgical wounds. The suit alleges those failures caused hospitalization, gaping wounds, severe scarring that required multiple corrective surgeries, weeks of incapacitation, and permanent disfigurement. It is brought as a health care liability claim under Chapter 74 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code.

A separate Harris County lawsuit raises concerns beyond patient care. Dr. Ekene Ajufo, a physician and former business partner, filed a petition alleging fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, and gross financial mismanagement at DVA Plastic Surgery and its affiliate, Arike Group, PLLC. Notably, the petition alleges Dr. Ajibade concealed a patient death and related malpractice issues from his own business partner and the company, despite a fiduciary duty to disclose them.

Dr. Ajibade's cases have surfaced as part of a wider investigation into outpatient cosmetic surgery chains. KFF Health News grouped the Easley case with other lawsuits alleging inadequate post-operative monitoring and delayed emergency referrals, and outlets including the Miami Herald have carried that investigation. ABC13 Houston is preparing an investigative report on his practice history, so the coverage is likely to expand.

A physician can face multiple, separate legal actions arising from different patients and different alleged failures. Each of the matters above stands on its own facts. None have been resolved by a court, the defendants are entitled to contest the allegations, and nothing described here has been proven.

At the same time, complications that were dismissed or mishandled are exactly what malpractice review exists for. As our article on surgical errors explains, the question is never whether the outcome was bad; it is whether the care fell below the professional standard. If you had liposuction, a fat transfer, or another cosmetic procedure with Dr. Ajibade, four questions matter. Were you told to go home despite reporting concerning symptoms? Did you need emergency treatment, hospitalization, or corrective surgery after the procedure? Were you given anesthesia doses whose risks were never explained to you? Did the facility fail to respond when you called about post-operative complications? If the answer to any of these is yes, your case is worth reviewing.

Deadlines are the trap. Medical malpractice and wrongful death claims are subject to strict statutes of limitations, in some states as short as two years and in some situations less. Our article on the statute of limitations for medical malpractice explains how the clock works, but the short version is that it is already running, and waiting is the expensive mistake. Asking now costs nothing; asking too late closes the courthouse doors no matter how strong the case.

National Malpractice Lawyers represents patients and families harmed by negligent medical and surgical care, including cases involving outpatient surgery centers and anesthesia-related injuries. If you believe you or a loved one was harmed during treatment with Dr. Dare Ajibade, or at a facility where he practiced, contact our office for a confidential case evaluation.

This post is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. The allegations described above are drawn from publicly filed court records and news reporting. Defendants have denied wrongdoing where noted, and no court has issued a final ruling on the merits of these claims.