Kanye West is objecting to the jury’s verdict in his trial at his Malibu mansion, filing a motion on March 13 asking a Los Angeles Superior Court judge to either grant a new trial or overturn the decision altogether.
The 48-year-old Grammy-winning rapper, who now goes by Ye, was ordered to pay more than $100,000 in damages after a two-week trial in which former worker Tony Saxon claimed he was injured on the job, not paid and wrongly fired while working at West’s $57 million Malibu home.
Saxon had initially sought $1.7 million in compensatory damages, but the jury awarded him $140,000 with no additional punitive damages, a sum based solely on his injury claims, as both sides had previously confirmed.
West’s new motion argues the award should not stand, saying Saxon has presented no qualifying medical bills, no medical records establishing an injury and no credible expert testimony to support his claims.
“This case was presented to the jury without a single admissible medical bill, without any medical records establishing an injury, and without expert testimony based on causality or reliable assessment methodology,” the filing states.
“Yet the jury nonetheless awarded Plaintiff $100,000 in economic damages, $50,000 for past economic losses, and $50,000 for future economic losses. This sum cannot be sustained.”
The motion goes further, saying that even if the damages were justified, Saxon, described as an unlicensed contractor, would not be entitled to collect them under California’s contractor licensing laws.
“At a minimum, the Court should order a new trial limited to damages,” the filing adds.
Saxon’s attorney, Ronald Zambrano, is unmoved.
He said PEOPLE the motion amounts to an attempt to revive an issue that the court had already dismissed before the trial even began.
“We are confident that the judge will make the same decisions and leave the jury’s verdict as is,” he said.
Saxon’s initial civil complaint, first filed in September 2023, alleged that he was hired as a project manager for the property in September 2021, contracted to serve as full-time security and live-in caretaker at $20,000 per week.
He claimed he only received one of these payments and was forced to sleep in makeshift conditions on the property, using his coat as bedding on the floor, while West allegedly ignored his complaints.
