Kanye West has settled his class action lawsuit for $1.35 million against 599 Sunday Service
performers after a four-year court battle over mistreatment, The U.S. Sun can reveal.
The beleaguered rapper, who’s facing numerous 𝑠e𝑥ual harassment and employment lawsuits, will
stump up the cash, along with his multiple firms.
Kanye West settled his suit with almost 600 Sunday Service performersCredit: Getty
The rapper seen performing Sunday Service during the 2019 Coachella Valley Music And Arts FestivalCredit: Getty
Kanye was sued by dancer Michael Pearson who worked at his Hollywood Bowl shows in November 2019.
In total, 599 performers – who were involved in what was coined the “Nebuchadnezzar Opera” – joined the suit with the plaintiffs seeking over $10 million in damages.
In Michael’s complaint, he was paid a daily rate of $250 independent of how many hours he worked.
“Failure to pay his overtime wages at the appropriate rate of pay, and failure to pay premium wages for missed meal and rest periods at the appropriate rate of pay,” the suit states.
Michael alleged that there weren’t enough chairs for all the performers so he was forced to stand all day and a staff shuttle they were promised to take them back to their cars didn’t show up.
He sued on seven counts including “unlawful and unfair business practices” with the defendants being Kanye himself, West Brands LLC, Very Good Touring Inc, and AJR Films Inc.
Frank Kim, of Kim Legal, APC, has now filed a motion for the preliminary approval of the settlement stating that it “is fair, adequate, reasonable, and in the best interest of the Class and the parties.”
It was very difficult for the Parties to reach this Settlement.”
Attorney Frank Kim
The suit was filed back in August 2020 – and, in November last year, they agreed on a “confidential settlement.”
Now that settlement figure has been revealed in the new doc filed at Los Angeles Superior Court with attorney Frank claiming that they dealt with “very difficult, arms-length negotiations”.
“It was very difficult for the Parties to reach this Settlement of $1,350,000. This Settlement is the result of adversarial, non-collusive, and arms-length negotiations,” the filing states.
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“The Parties arrived at it after extensive investigation and discovery, careful evaluation of the law, risks, and all information substantiating the amount of penalties reasonably likely to be awarded to the class were the trier of fact to find Defendants liable, and the assistance of an experienced mediator, Jason Marsili, Esq.”
The performers were after $10,596,557 in damages, which included $7.3 million in waiting time for unpaid wages and a $3.1 million penalty for violating the California labor code.
The latest court document also claims the parties attended an all-day mediation on October 23 and continued for weeks until this settlement was agreed on both sides.
“Although the parties did not resolve the matter that day, they continued their settlement discussions in the following weeks with the assistance of the mediator, and in response to a mediation proposal, the Parties reached a settlement, as provided herein, to settle Plaintiff’s claims on a class-wide and representative basis,” it states.