Kanye West makes new request to judge in Malibu mansion trial

Kanye West is pushing back against the jury's verdict in his Malibu mansion trial, filing a motion on 13 March asking a Los Angeles Superior Court judge to either grant a new trial or reverse the decision outright.

The Grammy-winning rapper, 48, who now goes by Ye, was ordered to pay over $100,000 in damages after a two-week trial in which former worker Tony Saxon alleged he was injured on the job, went unpaid and was wrongfully terminated while working on 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 parties previously confirmed.

West's new motion argues the award should not stand, contending that Saxon presented no admissible medical bills, no medical records establishing injury and no credible expert testimony to support his claims. 

"This case went to the jury without a single admissible medical bill, without any medical records establishing injury, and without expert testimony grounded in any reliable causation or valuation methodology," the filing states. 

"Yet the jury nevertheless awarded Plaintiff $100,000 in economic damages, $50,000 for past economic loss and $50,000 for future economic loss. That award cannot stand."

The motion goes further, arguing that even if damages were justified, Saxon, described as an unlicensed contractor, would be legally barred from collecting them under California contractor licensing statutes. 

"At a minimum, the Court should order a new trial limited to damages," the filing adds.

Saxon's attorney Ronald Zambrano is unmoved. 

He told PEOPLE the motion amounts to an attempt to relitigate an issue the court had already rejected before trial even began. 

"We have a strong confidence the judge will make the same decisions and leave the jury's verdict as is," he said.

Saxon's original civil complaint, first filed in September 2023, alleged he was hired as a project manager for the property in September 2021, brought on to serve as full-time security and a live-in caretaker at $20,000 a week. 

He claimed he received only one of those payments and was forced to sleep in makeshift conditions on the property, using his coat as bedding on the ground while West allegedly ignored his complaints.