Kanye West Accused By Lawyer Of Having “Attention Span Of A Goldfish” As He Seeks New One
Kanye West struggled to hire a lawyer amid the threat of a default judgment in a lawsuit brought by a former Donda Academy employee. Manoj Shah, an attorney working for Ye who doesn’t specialize in civil litigation, begged a judge for more time to find someone to represent the polarizing rapper at a hearing on Tuesday (November 12).
“We are trying in vain to retain counsel,” Shah told Judge Christopher Lui. “We are interviewing several firms. For one reason or another, it has failed to work out. Our goal is to have counsel and participate in the defense.”
West faces multiple lawsuits but keeps firing his attorneys or refusing to pay them. Isaiah Meadows, a former assistant principal at Donna Academy, sought a default judgment in his case against Ye. Judge Lui decided to wait after hearing about West’s efforts to find a new lawyer.
“This can’t continue forever,” the judge warned. “If a substitute counsel is going to come in, it has to be done quickly.”
Judge Lui said he would enter a default judgment for Meadows if West doesn’t hire a new lawyer soon.
Meadows’ attorney Ron Zambrano believed the judge was delaying the inevitable.
“It’s an odd situation,” Zambrano told Courthouse News. “This is the first time we’ve heard there’s an attorney representing [West’s] interests. Whoever the next attorney is, there’s a long history of people not getting paid by Kanye West, which is part of the problem. But we’re gonna move forward. He’s going to have to pay attention to this case somehow.”
Zambrano took a jab at Ye when asked why the controversial artist wasn’t participating in the case.
“I just think that sometimes he has the attention span of a goldfish,” Zambrano said.
Meadows is one of several former employees suing West. The most disturbing allegations against him came from a lawsuit filed by his ex-assistant Lauren Pisciotta, who accused him of drugging and sexually assaulting her.