Kanye West Ordered to Pay $140K in Tony Saxon Lawsuit

A Los Angeles jury ordered Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, to pay Tony Saxon $140,000 in March 2026, closing out the first phase of the Kanye West and Tony Saxon lawsuit over renovation work at Ye’s Malibu mansion. Saxon, a handyman and musician, had sought $1.7 million for unpaid wages, wrongful termination, and medical expenses. The jury rejected most of his claims and awarded damages only for a back injury he suffered on the job.¹

How Saxon Ended Up Working on the Malibu House

Ye bought the beachfront home, designed by Pritzker Prize–winning architect Tadao Ando, for $57.3 million in 2021 and set about gutting it.² He wanted the concrete structure stripped of its plumbing, windows, and interior finishes and turned into what was variously described as an off-the-grid shelter or a 1910s-inspired bomb shelter. The work went forward without permits.³

Saxon, a Los Angeles-based soul musician and vintage record dealer, was hired in September 2021. He testified he told Ye, “I told him I was just a guy with a minivan, not a licensed contractor.”⁴ Bianca Censori, Ye’s wife and an architectural consultant on the project at the time, testified that Saxon told her he did hold a contractor’s license.⁵

Saxon said he was hired as a project manager, security guard, and live-in caretaker at $20,000 a week.⁶ His duties included overseeing demolition, coordinating workers, hiring subcontractors, and providing round-the-clock security. He alleged workers tore out windows, chimneys, plumbing, electrical systems, toilets, fireplaces, and a jacuzzi without safety equipment.⁷

Saxon said he slept on a mattress on the bare concrete floor near open insulation in a house stripped of plumbing and electricity, and that Ye once woke him at 3:00 a.m. to ask why he wasn’t working.¹ He worked roughly six to seven weeks before Ye fired him in November 2021. Saxon said the firing came after he refused what he called “dangerous requests.”⁸

The Claims Saxon Filed

Saxon sued in Los Angeles Superior Court in September 2023 for more than $1 million. His complaint alleged disability discrimination, violations of the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, multiple labor code violations, unsafe working conditions, unpaid wages, and wrongful retaliatory termination.⁹ He said he suffered a serious back injury during demolition and that Ye carried no workers’ compensation insurance to cover his medical costs.⁸

The payment picture was disputed. Saxon initially said he had received one $20,000 payment plus $100,000 for construction costs, but during cross-examination he acknowledged $240,000 in wire transfers over his roughly seven-week tenure. His attorney, Ronald Zambrano of West Coast Trial Lawyers, argued that about $160,000 of that money went to legitimate project costs like materials, labor, and debris removal, and that Saxon was still owed $60,000 for his own services on top of damages.¹⁰

What the Jury Decided

The trial began February 24, 2026, before Judge Brock T. Hammond and ran ten days.⁷ The jury reached its verdict on March 10 and it was announced the next day.¹¹

The jurors rejected Saxon’s claims for unpaid wages, overtime, waiting-time penalties, wrongful termination, retaliation, and punitive damages. They found he had not been wrongfully terminated and had been paid fairly for his work.¹¹

They did find that Saxon qualified as an employee for purposes of his injury claim, that he sustained a back injury on the job, and that Ye was liable because he carried no workers’ compensation insurance. The award totaled $140,000: $100,000 for past and future economic loss and $40,000 for pain and suffering. One juror told reporters the injury did not appear “monumental” or “life-changing,” citing defense video of Saxon performing with a band.¹²

The verdict landed on an unusual dual finding. The jury treated Saxon as an employee for the injury claim but also found he had acted in the capacity of a contractor and did not qualify for the employee exception under California’s contractor licensing statutes. That combination sank his wage claims while preserving liability for the workplace injury.¹³

Zambrano called the mixed result a “vindication.” West Coast Trial Lawyers president Neama Rahmani said California law allows recovery of attorney’s fees and costs in labor cases and estimated the final judgment against Ye “should be more than $1 million.”¹³ Ye’s representative Milo Yiannopoulos said the jury “rejected almost all” of Saxon’s claims and argued the $140,000 was “legally barred” because the jury found Saxon acted as an unlicensed contractor.⁹

Ye’s Defense and Testimony

Ye’s attorney Andrew Cherkasky of Golden Law, Inc. built the defense around the argument that Saxon was an independent contractor, not an employee, and pointed to a $1.8 million mechanic’s lien Saxon had placed on the property, a tool available only to contractors, as evidence contradicting the employee claim.¹⁰ In closing arguments Cherkasky called Saxon a “liar,” “malingerer,” and “professional victim” who “tried to defraud one of the world’s biggest superstars.”¹⁴ The defense played video of Saxon singing and dancing with a band to counter his injury claims.¹³

Ye took the stand on March 6, 2026, for less than three hours. He answered “I don’t recall” to dozens of questions about Saxon and the property. He said he had no memory of meeting Saxon and only a vague memory of hiring him, testified he didn’t know how much he had to pay him, and denied knowing Saxon was living in the gutted house: “I didn’t know it was possible for someone to live in a house like that with no toilet or shower.”⁶ He did not dispute being Saxon’s employer and acknowledged hiring him to help “execute your vision for the Ando house.”¹⁵

Reporters observed Ye appearing to doze on the stand, yawning and letting his head fall forward. Zambrano asked at one point whether Ye was asleep. Cherkasky dismissed the behavior as boredom, saying, “This is beneath him.”¹

Censori testified March 2 and March 5, 2026. She said she had been hired as an architectural consultant on the project in 2021, before her marriage to Ye, and was removed from it around the time Saxon was hired. Text messages introduced at trial showed Saxon kept her informed about the property and his own health, including back pain. When Saxon texted asking her to contact Ye’s chiropractor, she said she did not relay the message because it was “not my business.” She confirmed Saxon was fired after about a month and said it was “not unusual” for people to be let go depending on how they “gelled” with Ye.⁵

The Post-Trial Ruling

On March 18, 2026, Ye’s attorneys Andrew and Catherine Cherkasky filed a motion to overturn the verdict or, alternatively, to order a new trial on damages. They argued there was “no competent evidence” behind the award, citing a lack of admissible medical bills or expert testimony, and said the verdict was internally inconsistent because the jury awarded $50,000 for future economic loss but nothing for future pain and suffering.¹⁶

Judge Hammond denied the motion on April 27, 2026, upholding the $140,000 award. He agreed Saxon could not be compensated for work performed as an unlicensed contractor under California’s Business and Professions Code but ruled that the code did not bar recovery for past and future medical expenses.¹⁷

Ye’s Countersuit Over the Mechanic’s Lien

Separately from the Saxon trial, Ye filed a lawsuit against Saxon and West Coast Trial Lawyers in January 2026 over the $1.8 million mechanic’s lien Saxon had placed on the Malibu property in January 2024. Ye alleges the lien was “invalid” and that Saxon’s attorneys ran an “aggressive publicity campaign designed to pressure Ye, chill prospective transactions, and extract payment on disputed claims already being litigated in court.”¹⁸ A spokesperson said the lien “clouded the home’s title and interfered with its sale, destroying substantial value.”⁹ A judge released the lien in July 2025 because it was not enforced, but Ye is seeking damages for the impact it had before that release. The case remains pending.

According to the BBC, Saxon’s case was the first of more than a dozen suits from former employees against Ye to reach trial.¹

1
BBC News. Ye Ordered To Pay Handyman in Malibu Mansion Case
2
The New Yorker. Kanye West Tadao Ando Beach House Malibu
3
Architectural Digest. The Saga of Kanye Wests Tadao Ando Mansion
4
Variety. Ye Trial Testimony Malibu Mansion Trial Court Recall
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Courthouse News Service. Bianca Censori Testifies in Husband Kanye Wests Unpaid Wages Trial Against Handyman
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ABC News. Ye Testifies in Court Over Lawsuit Filed by Former Worker
7
Courthouse News Service. Civil Trial Over Wages for Remodel of Kanye Wests House Begins in LA
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ABC7. Kanye West Ordered To Pay Former Contractor $140K in Civil Lawsuit Involving Malibu Mansion Renovation
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Los Angeles Times. Kanye West Ordered To Pay Former Contractor $140,000 for Mansion Work
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Rolling Stone Canada. Kanye West Malibu Mansion Trial Tony Saxon Denies a Most Heinous Fraud
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NBC Los Angeles. Verdict in Ye Malibu Mansion Renovations Case
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Courthouse News Service. Aggrieved Handyman Gets $140,000 Payback in Civil Trial Against Kanye West
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Variety. Kanye West Found Liable Trial Lawsuit Damages
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Courthouse News Service. Handyman’s Attorney Asks Jury To Award $1.7 Million From Kanye West Over Workplace Violations
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Rolling Stone. Kanye West Testifies Mansion Trial
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Rolling Stone Canada. Kanye West Challenge Jury Award Malibu Mansion Trial
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MyNewsLA. Judge Denies Ye Motion for Judgment Notwithstanding the Verdict
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Vibe. Kanye West Fails To Derail Lawsuit