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SANTA MONICA (CNS) - A judge said Monday he will hold a hearing on Friday in a request by Soulja Boy's attorney to be relieved from representing the rapper because of unpaid legal bills, but that the scheduled mid-February start of the jury trial will stand.
Santa Monica Superior Court Judge Mark H. Epstein issued his rulings in the case brought by plaintiff Kayla Christine Myers, who alleges the singer yelled profanities, kicked her, stomped on her stomach and bashed her head with a large gun during a party she attended at his Malibu home on Feb. 1, 2019.
Soulja Boy's real names is DeAndre Cortez Way. His attorney, Thomas P. Bleau, filed court papers on Thursday asking to be excused from further representing the singer, saying the rapper "has failed and continues to fail to cooperate with counsel for his defense and has failed and continues to fail to pay any portion of his outstanding and substantial attorneys' fees, and costs after multiple requests to do so."
Bleau also requested that the start of trial be delayed for at least three months so that Soulja Boy can find a new lawyer.
However, in Monday's ruling, the judge said that he saw no reason to reset the Feb. 14 trial date and that he does not understand why the motion was not brought earlier given that the problems between the singer and his attorney likely "have been brewing for some time" before Thursday.
"In short, this looks more like deliberate conduct by (Soulja Boy) to obtain a continuance (rather) than an unavoidable issue," Epstein wrote.
In the lawsuit brought in January 2020, Myers alleges Soulja Boy held the gun to her head and told her she was going to die that night and she would not make it home. Myers further maintains Soulja Boy 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 before she was led into the garage.
Myers alleges says she was left inside the garage for four hours while the female assistant and another man watched over her.
According to Myers, she was eventually allowed to leave and was hospitalized with three fractured ribs and a facial contusion. Soulja Boy has denied assaulting Myers or any other wrongdoing and alleges she was the aggressor in the confrontation with the singer's assistant.