44 minutes ago by TMZ Staff  

Rick Ross just scored a victory against a woman who claims the rapper's pit bulls mauled her adorable pet Yorkie to death because a judge has DISMISSED her lawsuit ... at least for now.

TMZ broke the story ... the Yorkie, named Banks, died after several pit bulls (one pictured below) escaped from Rick's Atlanta mansion back in April and tore Banks apart.

Banks' owner filed a lawsuit against Ross demanding more than $15k in damages and fees ... but today, a judge threw out the case ... saying Banks' owner failed to properly serve Ross with the suit.

Rick's manager tells TMZ, "We tried to do good business ... we paid the vet bill ... but it was an unfortunate accident that [Banks' owner] tried to capitalize off of."

Banks' owner tells TMZ ... she isn't giving up ... and vows to correct her mistake and eventually get justice for Banks.

6 minutes ago by TMZ Staff  

Lindsay Lohan dished out 8 to 10 seconds of pain when she attacked a Betty Ford employee last year ... so says the alleged victim who's filing a lawsuit against the actress -- but her story appears to have one MAJOR inconsistency.   

Dawn Holland -- who now goes by Dawn Bradley -- is all set to file the legal docs today ... in which she claims Lohan was combative and violent when she tried to give the actress a breathalyzer test at the rehab center back in  December ... after Lohan had allegedly snuck off the property to go boozing.

In the lawsuit, Holland claims Lohan grabbed her right wrist and began "twisting and pulling it for 8-10 seconds."

But here's the rub -- back when Dawn filed her initial incident report with the BFC, she NEVER mentioned the wrist grab ... even though the rest of her story syncs up perfectly.

Holland -- who was eventually fired from Betty Ford Center -- claims she suffered "great mental, physical and nervous pain and suffering" from the alleged assault and battery.

Dawn is demanding AT LEAST $1 million to make things right.

Tags: Lindsay Lohan, Dawn Holland, Celebrity Justice