A California judge has ordered Kanye West to pay more than $76,000 in legal fees to a former employee after ruling that his early attempt to throw out her lawsuit was frivolous. The decision marks another setback for the musician, who faces allegations of antisemitism, sexual harassment, and retaliation from the ex-Yeezy staffer.

At a hearing in downtown Los Angeles on Friday, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Nicholas F. Daum awarded $76,245 in attorneys’ fees to the plaintiff, identified in court papers as Jane Doe. The amount was less than the nearly $100,000 her lawyers initially sought, but her legal team said they were satisfied with the ruling.

The order stems from West’s failed effort to dismiss the lawsuit on First Amendment grounds. In April, his attorneys filed a motion to strike the complaint, claiming the woman’s allegations sought to silence West’s constitutionally protected right to artistic expression. The filing argued that “Ye is not merely a creator; he is art,” and described his behavior as part of a continuous performance challenging societal taboos.

That argument was rejected in June by Judge Theresa M. Traber, who issued a blistering opinion calling the motion “rife with defects” and “frivolous.” She found that the declarations West submitted from purported witnesses, including his then–chief of staff Milo Yiannopoulos, were “totally lacking in personal knowledge or proper foundation.” Judge Daum agreed with his predecessor’s assessment and adopted her ruling when awarding fees on Friday, calling West’s motion nothing more than a stalling tactic.

West’s new attorney, Andrew Cherkasky, tried to persuade the court to delay the fee order, noting that West has appealed the June ruling. Cherkasky argued that the appellate court could ultimately side with West, and said the First Amendment issues raised were “very interesting” and might warrant further appeals. Judge Daum declined to postpone the fee award, remarking that appellate review could take a year or more. He suggested that West could appeal the fee order as well if he wished.

The lawsuit, filed in February, paints a disturbing picture of the plaintiff’s brief tenure at Yeezy in late 2023 and early 2024. According to her 34-page complaint, West subjected her to antisemitic tirades, misogynistic comments, and unwanted sexual advances. She claims he sent her text messages that said “Welcome to the first day of working for Hitler” and “Hail Hitler.” In another instance, she alleges, West texted her a nude photo of a woman and demanded that she work on his “Yeezy Porn” project despite her objections. She says she was fired after reporting his behavior to her manager.

Her lawyer, Carney Shegerian, said West waged “a relentless and deliberate campaign of antisemitism and misogyny” against his client, adding that the texts in which West repeatedly compared himself to Hitler demonstrate his true motives. “We need to stop excusing Ye’s behavior,” Shegerian said in a statement earlier this year. “As a father, husband, and employer, he must be held accountable. Ye dared my client to sue, and we will see him in court.”

For his part, West’s legal team has maintained that the plaintiff knowingly entered a provocative creative environment and later tried to reframe his conduct as unlawful. But the courts so far have disagreed.

West, 48, is no stranger to litigation. Since his public outburst in October 2022, when he tweeted he would go “death con 3 on Jewish people,” he has been sued more than a dozen times. That tweet ignited a storm of controversy, cost him major brand partnerships, and led to a Rolling Stone investigation that described a “toxic” culture inside his Yeezy brand. The report detailed West’s praise of Nazis and skinheads as “inspirational” and his repeated degradation of women in the workplace.

While West issued a brief apology in Hebrew on Instagram months later, he has continued to lean into provocative imagery. He was photographed wearing a T-shirt linked to the Norwegian black metal musician Burzum, who has been convicted of hate crimes, and he used art resembling Burzum’s work to promote his Vultures 1 project.

The Jane Doe case remains on hold until the California Court of Appeal decides whether West’s First Amendment argument has merit. If the appellate judges uphold the lower court’s rejection of his motion, the case will move forward to trial. Until then, West must pay the six-figure sum to cover the plaintiff’s legal costs in fending off what the judge labeled a frivolous attempt to derail the lawsuit.