A judge has awarded more than $800,000 in attorneys’ fees and costs to a former personal assistant to Soulja Boy who also won $4.25 million in damages after a jury trial.
On April 10, a Santa Monica Superior Court jury ordered the 35-year-old “Crank That” singer to pay the plaintiff $4 million in compensatory damages and $250,000 in punitive damages. Identified only as Jane Doe, the plaintiff later accepted a reduction in punitive damages to $50,000 to avoid a retrial in that part of the case.
On Friday, Judge Mark H. Epstein granted the woman $658,000 in attorneys’ fees and another $159,280 in costs for a total of about $817,000. The woman had originally asked for $2.9 million and in their rebuttal papers, Soulja Boy’s lawyers called Doe’s request “staggering” and “based on inflated hourly rates, unsupported multipliers and vague or excessive billing.”
The singer’s real name is DeAndre Cortez Way.
The case was cleared for trial in 2024 when Epstein denied a motion by the singer’s attorneys to dismiss multiple causes of action. In their court papers, Soulja Boy’s attorneys contended that the singer and Doe had a “consensual, intimate relationship” for about a year and that he never employed her.
In her suit filed in January 2021, Doe said she was hired by Soulja Boy in December 2018. Her duties included cooking and bringing food and snacks, carrying personal belongings or luggage, styling the rapper’s hair, driving him and handling travel plans, the suit stated.
Soulja Boy paid the plaintiff $500 weekly for her services and she lived and worked seven days a week, 20 hours daily, at his homes in Malibu and Bell Canyon, the suit stated.
The two allegedly became romantically involved, but from January 2019 to December 2020 he allegedly sexually abused her and did not pay her overtime while also committing other wage and hour violations, her suit alleged.