A former contractor who worked for the artist formerly known as Kanye West in connection with a Malibu mansion renovation project is now arguing that Ye should be required to fork over $1.2 million in attorney’s fees.
Per court docs dated July 10 and viewed by Complex, lawyers for Anthony Saxon Netelkos, the worker in question, argue that he’s owed this amount due to what they describe as the “challenging and complex” nature of the case.
As previously reported, Saxon’s civil suit ended with him being awarded $140,000 in damages related to an injury he said he sustained while working for Ye. He had originally sought nearly $2 million.
A rep for Ye argued that the awarding of damages is “legally barred” when responding to the jury’s decision in a statement to Complex in March, adding that their own lawsuit against Saxon and his attorneys would address “far more serious misconduct.” Saxon’s lawyers, meanwhile, told Complex at the time that they considered the jury’s decision a “mixed verdict,” adding that they would be seeking attorney’s fees moving forward.
This month, Saxon’s legal team put that exact effort into motion.
Included in the July 10 filings are declarations from several attorneys involved in the proceedings, including Neama Rahmani. According to Rahmani, he and the larger West Coast Trial Lawyers team were enlisted by Saxon “in or about” April of 2023, with the difficulty of the case apparent “from the beginning.”
Emphasized in Rahmani’s declaration is the work he says was required to determine whether Saxon qualified as an independent contractor or an actual employee.
“For all of these reasons, this was a challenging, complex, and risky matter to litigate through verdict,” Rahmani argued in court docs viewed by Complex. “In my opinion, the fees requested are reasonable in light of the time required, the issues presented, the risk undertaken, the hostility of the litigation, and the result obtained for [Saxon].”
Complex has reached out to reps for Ye, and Saxon, for additional comment.
This story may be updated.
