Ye Is Suing the Lawyers Who Beat Him. They Say His Complaint Is Unintelligible.

Ye lost a jury verdict to a handyman in March. He is now suing the law firm that won it, and the firm’s response is that his complaint cannot be understood.

On August 20, attorneys for Tony Saxon and the firm West Coast Trial Lawyers asked Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Brock T. Hammond to dismiss the firm as a defendant, arguing that Ye’s allegations are “uncertain, ambiguous and unintelligible” and that they improperly lump defendants together without specifying which claims apply to whom.

How This Started

With a job and a weekly rate.

Saxon was hired in 2021 at $20,000 a week. According to the filings, he received one $20,000 installment, plus $100,000 toward construction costs. On March 11 a jury awarded him $140,000, and Judge Hammond upheld the verdict.

What Ye Wants Now

Ye, 49, and his company Shore Drive Holdings are seeking $2.27 million in damages, and a declaration that a $1.8 million mechanic’s lien recorded against his property is void.

His characterization of that line is the sharpest line in the case. He calls it a “pressure device recorded to cloud the property’s title and to coerce payment.”

A mechanic’s lien is a claim a contractor can record against a property for unpaid work. Once it is on the title, selling or refinancing becomes difficult until it is resolved, which is why the amount attached to a $140,000 judgment matters. The lien is thirteen times the verdict.

The Firm’s Defense

Two arguments, and the second is the substantive one.

First, that the complaint is too vague to answer. Second, that everything Ye is complaining about is protected petitioning activity covered by litigation privilege - meaning a lawyer cannot be sued for the ordinary work of representing a client against you.

If that holds, the firm exits and Ye is left suing the handyman alone.

Nothing Has Been Decided

This is a motion, not a ruling. Judge Hammond has not decided whether the firm stays in the case, and no date for that decision has been reported.

References: MyNewsLA