SANTA MONICA, Calif. – Although a judge initially indicated he might cancel a jury’s award of $235,900 in punitive damages to a woman who said Soulja Boy assaulted her and bashed her head with a large gun during a party at his Malibu home in 2019, the judge decided to let the verdict stand after all.
Santa Monica Superior Court Judge Mark Epstein had said during a June 28 post-trial hearing that there was no evidence presented to jurors during the April trial by plaintiff Kayla Christine Myers’ attorney regarding Soulja Boy’s income, savings, debt or expenses. However, he changed his mind during a hearing Friday on the singer’s motion to overturn the award.
“The court frankly believes the question to be quite close,” the judge wrote. “But the court, on balance, believes that plaintiff has put forth enough evidence, barely…”
In their court papers, the rapper’s attorneys maintained that Myers’ lawyer “presented no documentary evidence” regarding their client’s net worth and that there was “no documentary evidence” regarding the performer’s “current financial situation.”
But in his court papers, Myers’ lawyer argued the punitive damages verdict should not be overturned, noting that the singer gave important evidence when testifying during the trial’s punitive damages phase.
“The defendant stated that he considered himself to be a successful rapper because he has sold several million records,” the woman’s lawyer stated in his court papers. “He testified that he has made millions of dollars off of the sales of one rap single alone, `Crank That,’ and that he continues to make money from music sales. He testified that he also continues to make money from social media marketing and views of his videos on YouTube, and that his YouTube channel has approximately 3 million subscribers and has been viewed over 1 billion times.”
The 32-year-old rapper additionally told jurors he is a record producer and that he also earns money marketing a cologne, a hand-held gaming device, a sneaker, a soda product and “certain cannabis products,” the plaintiff’s attorney stated in his court papers.
The same jury that reached the punitive damages verdict had earlier ordered the rapper to pay an identical amount of $235,900 in compensatory damages to 25-year-old Myers, all but $1,800 of which is to pay her for her pain and suffering. Because the panel found that the singer acted with malice, oppression or fraud, a second phase of the trial was triggered to determine whether Myers should be awarded punitive damages.
Myers alleged Soulja Boy, whose real name is DeAndre Cortez Way, held the gun to her head and told her she was going to die the night of Feb. 1, 2019. Myers further maintained the rapper then instructed an assistant to take the plaintiff inside the garage and tie her up with duct tape, and that she was later dragged by her hair inside the house and forced to take two showers.
Myers was led to the home’s garage and left there for four hours while the female assistant and another man watched over her, according to the suit brought in January 2020.
According to Myers, she was eventually allowed to leave and was hospitalized with three fractured ribs and a facial contusion. Soulja Boy denied assaulting Myers or any other wrongdoing and alleged she was the aggressor in the confrontation with the rapper’s assistant.
