Ever Imagined Getting Sued for Partying? James Harden is Learning This the Hard Way

It seems as though celebrities are always having to fight legal battles, doesn’t it? Truth be told, they sometimes have themselves to blame for such eventualities, and this time around it’s the NBA golden boy James Harden on the hook.

Last month, the Houston Rockets star rented a mansion valued at $30 million from one Mr. George S. Pietro. The intention was to spend a whole week in the mansion as a vacation of sorts, and given the man’s exploits on the court he deserves ample rest, don’t you agree?

Unfortunately, what should have ended with a happy and rested Harden is turning into an ugly lawsuit thanks to the player’s one-week landlord.

James Harden is being sued for turning a rented property into a party house

Breach of Contract

According to TMZ, Mr. Pietro is suing the athlete for a breach of contract, claiming that Harden rented his house under false pretenses. For that one week, the player paid his landlord a total of $82,200, but Pietro insists that he is owed much more.

As he put it, the rental contract forbids tenants from hosting over seven adults in the house at any one given time. If it is their intention to do so, Pietro has a whole other contract for them to sign, one that stipulates that the mansion is being rented for partying.

As you would correctly assume, this second type of contract calls for the potential tenant to dig a little deeper into their pockets, with Pietro charging $150,000 per party.

And seeing as Harden hosted two parties during his stay at the $30 million-mansion, the landlord feels justified in suing the player for $300,000. You’d be on his side for this, wouldn’t you?

He owes $300,000 and then some

However, that’s not all. Things get a little bit more interesting with Pietro also suing for an extra amount yet to be disclosed to the public, this one being for Harden negotiating with him in bad faith.

According to him, the athlete always intended to host those parties during the week-long stay, a fact that he withheld when they were negotiating the rental contract. In Pietro’s eyes, this fact sets up a punitive damage claim perfectly. Think the court will see it his way?

All the same, James Harden may not feel the pinch, even if the court finds him in the wrong. Celebrity Net Worth reports that the man is currently worth $165 million, and has an average annual salary of $40 million.

A Drop in the Ocean

With all this cash streaming in, $300,000 will just be a drop in the ocean, right? Call it even $500,000, accounting for the undisclosed sum in punitive damages. For the man with the most expensive contract in the history of the NBA, half a million dollars may not dent his finances much.

The best in the game, even off the court

As good as Harden is on the court, so is he off it. When it comes to business ventures, he is among the best in the game, and he doesn’t shy away from making bold moves. In 2015, he left Nike for Adidas, and you get how such a transition raises eyebrows, don’t you?

He is definitely glad that he jumped ship, with Adidas offering him a deal worth $200 million, payable in 13 years and in installments of roughly $15 million annually.