James Harden is asking a judge to overturn a 2025 jury award to a homeowner of nearly $1 million in punitive damages and the sharing of another $450,000 in compensatory damages in a contract dispute lawsuit related to a Beverly Hills mansion the Cleveland Cavaliers guard leased in 2019.
Plaintiff George Santopietro’s long-running Los Angeles Superior Court complaint alleged Harden paid $82,200 to stay for a week at the home contingent on his not having more than seven guests. But Harden had multiple parties during the lease term in which he hosted more than 15 people and the home suffered property damage that negatively affected Santopietro’s relationship with the homeowners association, according to the plaintiff’s court papers.
In March 2025, the jury found after about two hours of deliberations that Harden committed fraud and directed him to pay $900,000 in punitive damages to Santopietro. The panel also determined Harden shared responsibility to the plaintiff for the $450,000 in compensatory damages with a management company and its owner, who the landlord alleged had entered a “vacation rental agreement” intended to benefit Harden.
But in court papers filed Thursday with Judge Peter A. Hernandez in advance of an Aug. 3 hearing, attorneys for Harden and the management company state the trial record shows the real estate professionals, including Santopietro’s own agent, interpreted the agreement’s guest limitation as addressing overnight occupancy rather than daytime visitors.
“The jury therefore could find fraud only by disregarding uncontradicted testimony and speculating that defendants possessed knowledge they did not have,” attorneys for Harden and the management company state in their court papers, adding there also was no evidence of malice, oppression or fraud to support the punitive damages finding.
The defense attorneys further state that even if their motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict is not granted, Harden and the management company are entitled to a new trial because the fraud verdict and associated damages awards are “against the weight of the credible evidence.”
Santopietro sued Harden and the other parties in September 2019. In his court papers, Harden’s lawyer maintained Santopietro was “taking advantage of the tenants with the goal of extorting money from them or to get a default.”
Harden’s attorney also said in his pleadings that Santopietro lives in Bangkok and “is well connected and is someone who threatens and intimidates everyone.”
Harden, 36, joined the Clippers in October 2023, four months after requesting a trade from the Philadelphia 76ers. The Clippers traded Harden to Cleveland on Feb. 4. Harden attended Artesia High School in Lakewood and led the team to two state titles. He is the highest-scoring left-handed shooter in NBA history.