Ye Seeks To Drop Hammer On Handyman & His Massive Legal Fee Request
Originally published by AllHipHop Read the original
Ye is fighting tooth and nail to block a massive legal fee bill that could cost him nearly nine times what he already lost in court.
The rapper’s legal team filed motion papers Thursday to Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Brock T. Hammond, arguing that handyman Tony Saxon’s $1.23 million fee request is completely unreasonable and should be rejected outright.
If the judge won’t throw it out entirely, Ye’s attorneys want the amount slashed down to just $59,425.
This whole situation stems from a March 11 jury verdict that ordered Ye to pay Saxon $140,000 after the handyman claimed he got shorted on compensation while managing construction at Ye’s Malibu oceanfront estate.
Back in 2021, Saxon says Ye hired him at $20,000 per week to oversee renovations and handle security at the $57 million mansion. The problem? Saxon claims he got paid just once, plus $100,000 for construction supplies, while sleeping on the mansion floor the entire time. When Saxon refused to carry out what he called dangerous construction work without proper safety equipment in November 2021, Ye allegedly 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’s response was simple: “I don’t watch TV.” Ye fired him on the spot.
Now Saxon’s lawyers are asking for legal fees that dwarf the actual damages, which is where things get heated.
Saxon originally wanted $1.7 million but the jury sided with him on only one claim, awarding him $100,000 for medical expenses and $40,000 for pain and suffering.
Ye’s defense team is hammering the point that Saxon lost on 12 of 13 causes of action at trial, meaning the handyman’s legal team basically struck out on almost everything they argued.
They’re calling the fee request an “unreasonably inflated” cash grab that doesn’t match the actual outcome of the case.
Meanwhile, Saxon’s attorneys at West Coast Trial Lawyers are pushing back hard, saying three senior attorneys and a paralegal spent hundreds of hours on this complex employment law case and risked over $300,000 in out-of-pocket expenses fighting a powerful celebrity defendant who denied all liability.