Kanye West and his team are taking a victory lap after a jury awarded a contractor suing him $140,000 – ‘a small fraction’ of the $1.7 million he had been seeking with the litigation.
West’s spokesperson Milo Yiannopoulos told the Daily Mail in a statement that the contractor, Tony Saxon, recovered ‘only a small fraction of what his lawyers demanded’ with the $140,000 – after asking the jury for ‘approximately $1.7 million.’
Yiannopoulos said the jury rejected almost all of [Saxon’s] claims in the case, which saw both West and his spouse Bianca Censori take the stand to testify.
‘Although the jury found that Saxon qualified as an employee for certain purposes,’ he said, ‘they awarded no damages for lost wages, overtime, waiting-time penalties, retaliation, punitive damages, or any other statutory penalties.
‘The only damages awarded were $140,000 related to Saxon’s claim that he was injured while working on the property.’
West Coast Trial Lawyers attorney Neama Rahmani told the Daily Mail Wednesday that his client Saxon was ‘relieved’ and ‘vindicated’ as the case drew to a close.
Kanye West and his team are taking a victory lap after a jury awarded a contractor suing him $140,000 – ‘a small fraction’ of the $1.7 million he had been seeking. Pictured in LA last year
West Coast Trial Lawyers attorney Neama Rahmani told the Daily Mail that his client Tony Saxon (pictured March 5 in LA) was ‘relieved’ and ‘vindicated’ as the case drew to a close
The verdict handed down to West on Wednesday was split into $100,000 for Saxon’s medical expenses, past and present; and $40,000 for past pain and suffering, Rolling Stone reported after reviewing the court ruling.
Saxon did not get anything for future pain and suffering or punitive damages, according to legal docs reviewed by the outlet.
West had not been acting in ‘malice, oppression, or fraud’ in firing Saxon from the construction project, which the jury ruled was not a wrongful termination, according to legal docs.
‘It took a lot of discussion to get to $140,000,’ a juror in the case told the outlet. ‘Some people wanted to go higher. We thought [Saxon] was injured, but there were too many other nebulous things to consider.’
Rahmani said of Wednesday’s ruling, ‘Admittedly, we won some claims, we lost some claims – it was a mixed verdict – I’m not gonna say that it was a clean sweep by any stretch, but the fact that the jury found merit in our claims, found that [Saxon] was an employee, found that [Saxon] was injured on the job … they gave him damages for his medical expenses – this is the law.’
Rahmani told the Daily Mail that the case involving Saxon marked the first time the rapper ‘had ever testified in court,’ adding, ‘We have no problem litigating against Ye – we’re the first law firm to push a case against Ye all the way to trial.’
Jurors told Rolling Stone about the Grammy-winning rapper’s demeanor when he testified last week.
‘He looked at us contemptuously,’ a female juror told the outlet. ‘It was just a waste of our time. Either he was just bored, or he was falling asleep on the stand. Both are bad options. I was not impressed.’
Both West and his spouse Bianca Censori (pictured March 5) took the stand in the case
Another juror said West clearly ‘fell asleep’ while testifying, adding, ‘I was kind of surprised. I could tell he’s not what some of my friends who still like him believe.’
West’s spokesperson Yiannopoulos said the rapper and his team remain confident they would recoup monies awarded in Wednesday’s judgment down the line, due to the jury’s finding ‘that Saxon acted in the capacity of a contractor and did not qualify for the employee exception under California’s contractor licensing statutes.
‘Under California law, an unlicensed contractor cannot recover compensation for work requiring a license. Based on those findings, we believe the damages award is legally barred and will be seeking post-trial relief from the court.’
Yiannopoulos said that Wednesday’s ruling ‘concludes the first of two lawsuits,’ as they’re pursuing litigation against ‘Saxon and his attorneys, Ron Zambrano and West Coast Trial Lawyers, arising from their recording and publicizing of an unlawful mechanic’s lien’ on the Malibu property.
He said ‘the lien clouded the home’s title and interfered with its sale, destroying substantial value at the time of sale.’
Rahmani told Daily Mail in response, ‘That lawsuit has no merit,’ citing legal SLAPP statutes applicable in the situation. He added, ‘You can’t file a non-meritorious lawsuit against someone for asserting a legal claim – that claim was litigated in court … California law is clear.’
The legal dispute stemmed from an initial arrangement that West and Saxon reached in September 2021. At the time, the rapper was looking to make a series of drastic changes to an oceanfront Malibu mansion he purchased for more than $57 million.
Saxon told the court in legal documents that, in fulfilling West’s unique specifications, he provided multiple services. They included project management, property caretaker and security. Saxon said in legal documents that he spent up to 16 hours a day working on the remodel, and sometimes had to sleep on the ground with his coat to remain on schedule.
The legal dispute stemmed from an initial arrangement that West and Saxon reached in September 2021, as the rapper was looking to make changes to a Malibu mansion he purchased for more than $57 million
West’s spokesperson said the rapper and his team remain confident they would recoup monies awarded in Wednesday’s judgment down the line
Saxon said in his legal filing that things between him and the Runaway rapper went awry two months into the endeavor, in November 2021.
The contractor told the court he voiced his opposition to a number of requests West made regarding the renovation of the home.
Saxon said West ordered him to demolish the marble bathrooms and remove all plumbing, windows and electrical equipment.
When West proposed moving large generators inside the house, Saxon told the court he informed West that it would create a major fire hazard.
Saxon said in the suit that West, in response, threatened him and said he would be considered ‘an enemy’ if he did not fulfill his vision.
Saxon said West told him, ‘If you don’t do what I say, you’re not going to work for me, I’m not gonna be your friend anymore and you’ll just see me on TV.’
Saxon said in legal documents that he told West he did not watch TV and was promptly fired on the spot and told to ‘get the hell out’ of the home.
Saxon claimed to the court that West only paid him for one week of work. He sued West for a number of labor code violations, and more than $1 million in unpaid wages, and damages.
In the lawsuit, Saxon said the rapper’s vision for the home was to make it like ‘a bomb shelter from the 1910s’, according to NBC News.
‘We were going to be gutting all of that out and sort of building him a Bat Cave,’ Saxon said, adding the rapper told him he wanted a place he could ‘hide from the Clintons in and the Kardashians in’.
The contractor told the court he voiced his opposition to a number of requests West made regarding the renovation of the home
West had not been acting in ‘malice, oppression, or fraud’ in firing Saxon from the construction project, which was not a wrongful termination, the jury ruled, according to legal docs
While Saxon believed the home was more of an ‘art project,’ he later came to realize West actually wanted to reside there.
West ‘wanted no electricity,’ Saxon said. ‘He only wanted plants. He only wanted candles. He only wanted battery lights. And he just wanted to have everything open and dark.’
West denied all of the accusations in a November 2023 filing requesting that the lawsuit be dismissed.
Lawyers for the rapper said he was not responsible for the damages Saxon claimed to have suffered and that Saxon performed tasks he was unaware of.
In a series of 2024 photos of the home, disrepair was visible: the floor-to-ceiling windows with views of the ocean had been removed, leaving that side open to the elements.
The inside of the house appeared to be crumbling and the metal railings were rusting after being exposed to the salt air, wind and water at the oceanfront location.
West’s Malibu neighbors in 2024 told TMZ his mansion was ‘left to rot’ and that they had not ‘seen anyone around for many months.’
