Kanye West Accused Of Avoiding Deposition In $2 Million Lawsuit With The Gap Over Illegal Renovations Of Property

Kanye West has reportedly hired new legal counsel amid his $2 million case with The Gap – and the retail giant claimed it has been unable to schedule a deposition with the mercurial rapper.

West and The Gap, initially prepared to partner up for a clothing line announced in 2020, came into a legal battle after West alleged that the company had failed to abide by an agreement to lease a commercial building in Los Angeles as a store for the Yeezy line. The Gap’s failure to fulfill its agreement with West stemmed from a 2022 lawsuit against it by Art City Center. Art City Center accused The Gap of making various alterations to the property, despite the lease’s clear statement that no modifications were to be made; the company sued for $800,000 in damages.

In response, The Gap claimed West and his team were the ones in control of the property and made the modifications without their knowledge or permission. The Gap countersued West and Yeezy for $2 million in damages, accused in their suit, “The performance of the work not only breached the Strategic Agreement, but the manner of preparing for and performing the work caused the need for the repairs and restoration alleged in the complaint.”

As West has been notably absent from the courtroom, previous partners at The Gap accused him of dragging out the case and demanded that he finally be present for a deposition in a new motion.

Lawyers for the company stated, “Gap has been diligently pursuing discovery and deposition of [West]. Gap served [West] with its first round of discovery in December 2023…meet and confer efforts commenced relating to the outstanding documents. Over a period of two months, between March and May 2024, Yeezy’s counsel maintained that a search for documents was forthcoming, citing issues with locating and obtaining documents from his client.”

The motion continued, “During this time period, Gap also attempted to schedule a deposition of [West]. Gap noticed depositions of the Yeezy Parties for September 19, 2024, October 11, 2024, and October 15, 2024. However, during this time period, the Yeezy Parties again terminated their counsel. Although the Yeezy Parties’ CFO informed Gap that new counsel, Manoj Shah of Brand Counsel PC, was to be assigned to the case, Mr. Shah has yet to make a formal appearance.”

Lawyers declared, “Based upon the foregoing, there is a strong appearance that the Yeezy Parties have been terminating counsel in order to delay and avoid discovery obligations in this case, and at a minimum have had that result. Ye’s deposition and production should be ordered to stop the gamesmanship.”

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