Ye’s Malibu Mansion Lawsuit Bill Climbs Past $320K

The tab from Ye’s ill-fated Malibu mansion renovation is still growing. Months after a Los Angeles jury awarded former project manager Tony Saxon $140,000 over an injury he suffered while working at the property, a judge has added another six figures to the bill. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Brock Hammond ordered Ye to pay $147,000 in attorneys’ fees and another $34,433.93 in costs, according to a Tuesday (Oct. 13) ruling obtained by Billboard. Combined with the March verdict, Saxon has now been awarded roughly $321,000.

Neither side got close to everything it wanted. Saxon’s attorneys sought about $1.23 million in fees and costs after trial. Ye’s lawyers argued the court should deny the request and cap any award at $59,425. Hammond landed considerably below Saxon’s request, but well above the figure Ye’s team proposed.

“I respect Judge Hammond’s openness to consider my argument” for a larger award, Saxon attorney Ron Zambrano told Billboard. He added that he still believed the work required to secure the verdict was worth more than what the judge ultimately approved. Ye’s camp was less impressed. Spokesperson Milo Yiannopoulos used the ruling to take a swipe at Zambrano’s co-counsel Neama Rahmani, calling the outcome “fittingly humiliating” after Saxon’s team had pursued a much larger fee award.

Saxon sued Ye in 2023 over his time working at the rapper’s Tadao Ando-designed Malibu property, which Ye purchased for $57.3 million in 2021. Saxon alleged he was hired to oversee a sweeping renovation and suffered neck and back injuries while working under unsafe conditions. Ye denied wrongdoing and disputed Saxon’s account of both his employment and injuries.

After trial in March, jurors awarded Saxon $100,000 for medical expenses and $40,000 for pain and suffering. They rejected several of his other claims, including wrongful termination and unpaid wages. Ye later challenged the verdict, but Judge Hammond declined to overturn it in April.

The mansion itself has already delivered a separate financial hit. Ye gutted much of the concrete beachfront home during his attempted renovation before eventually selling it in 2024 for $21 million, far below what he paid three years earlier. Moreover, another legal fight still ties to the property. Ye has sued Saxon over a mechanic’s lien placed on the mansion, accusing him of interfering with its sale. That case remains pending, leaving a house Ye no longer owns attached to yet another courtroom battle.