Birdman Demands $1 Million Judgment Be Thrown Out In Legal Battle With Ex-Employee
Cash Money Records founder Birdman is trying to have a $1 million-dollar judgment against him thrown out.
According to court documents obtained by The Blast, Birdman is finally responding to the lawsuit filed by his ex-employee Nicolas Jose Penzo.
Penzo accused Birdman of screwing him out of wages and overtime. A judge recently granted him a $1 million default judgment after Birdman allegedly blew off the lawsuit.
Birdman has filed a motion to vacate the judgment arguing it was awarded in error. He believes the judge granted the default judgment improperly. A hearing has been set for January 7, where he will face off with his former employee.
Birdman claims he wasn't even served with the legal papers.
Back in 2018, Penzo sued Birdman, Cash Money Records and Pine View Management LLC. In his suit, Penzo said he worked as Birdman’s property manager from 2015 until May 27, 2017.
His duties included painting, handling the cleaning services, and coordinating with contractors to fix things such as electricity.
Penzo said Birdman agreed to pay him $150 a day. He claimed to have been worked (occasionally) from 9am to 9pm. Penzo said he worked an average of 48-60 hours a week, without being paid for the overtime.
He even said he was only paid every two or three months, sometimes with checks, but mostly with cash. His original lawsuit was seeking $8,900 in unpaid wages, along with an additional $15k based on the $150 per day. His complaint sought $23,900 in damages.
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Birdman blew off the lawsuit for months despite being served with the legal papers. Penzo then asked the judge to grant him a default judgment.
In the recent motion, he increased his monetary demand saying he was owed more than the $24,000. Penzo now asked for damages totaling $1,069,876.
He wrote to the court, “The Defendant gave me several checks which were returned from his bank for insufficient funds and currently owes me $30,000 in unpaid wages, not including overtime.”
He added, “I have suffered back pain due to the immense amount of work the Defendant required me to do. I was without work for approximately one year, suffered financially, physically, and emotionally because of the position the Defendant left me in, and therefore feel I am entitled to $1,000,000 in compensatory damages.”
The judge agreed and slapped Birdman with a judgment of $1,069,876.
In the months since being awarded the money Penzo has been trying to collect. He fired off subpoenas to Citibank where Birdman held bank accounts.
Penzo was trying to seize the money in the accounts to satisfy the debt. Citibank responded to the subpoenas with bad news for Penzo.
The bank revealed Birdman shut down 7 accounts he held with the bank on August 31, 2019. The bank stated, “Citibank has no tangible or intangible personal property of the Defendants.” Penzo has yet to reveal his next strategy to collect on the cash.
Birdman is dealing with a separate $20 million-dollar lawsuit over his former Miami mansion.
He is currently trying to block the company suing him from seizing his music money. The lawsuit in question was filed in 2017 by a company named EMG Transfer Agent. The lender accused Birdman of borrowing $12 million from them and using his Miami mansion as collateral. The suit says Birdman defaulted on the loan and seeks $20 million in damages.
Birdman denied the allegations of defaulting and believes the lender gave him a sham loan. He has moved to dismiss the entire lawsuit.
