Toronto rapper Drake and Chris Brown have been hit with a $16-million US lawsuit over a nightclub brawl in New York in June that injured five people.

Entertainment Enterprises, which runs nightclub W.i.P. and the adjoining club, Greenhouse, filed a suit in Manhattan court Wednesday claiming the Greenhouse name was besmirched by what they called a “violent brawl.”

The suit holds Drake and Brown responsible for a fight involving their entourages, saying the posses were “trained and/or experienced in hand-to-hand and weapons combat.”

The brawl involved throwing bottles and trading punches, allegedly after words were exchanged over a woman, the suit says. Both Brown and Drake have had romantic relationships with Rihanna.

“Defendants overran the nightclubs’ extensive security measures and the brawl overtook the entire space,” the lawsuit said.

No criminal charges have been filed in the fight, which injured Brown, NBA star Tony Parker and others.

Drake issued a statement the day after the incident saying he was on his way out of the club and didn’t participate in the fight. Both his representatives and Brown's have declined comment on the lawsuit.

Entertainment Enterprises had been in negotiations to license the Greenhouse name for other clubs around the country, but the deal fell through after the extensive publicity over the brawl. The owners of the nightclub are not involved in the lawsuit.

The lawsuit alleges Drake and Brown were negligent.

"It's their posse, and they're in charge, and to the extent that they could have controlled or dissipated whatever was going on, we don't believe they did," said lawyer Andrew T. Miltenberg.

With files from the Associated Press