Carmen Efferson asks a court to order Stevie Wonder to repair alleged mold, plumbing, electrical and structural problems.
Carmen Efferson has answered Stevie Wonder’s eviction lawsuit with a demand of her own.
She wants the court to make the singer repair the Los Angeles home where she has lived since 1988.
TMZ reported that Efferson denied Wonder’s claims and said the house has urgent mold, plumbing, electrical and structural problems.
She wants the judge to order repairs as part of her response to his bid to remove her. Her filing brings the condition of the home into a fight that had focused on access, insurance and an old oral deal.
Wonder sued Efferson in Los Angeles Superior Court.
His complaint said she had lived in the home without paying monthly rent since July 1988. It said the dispute grew after she refused to let his team enter for an inspection.
The stated reason was “for purposes of updating and retaining property insurance on the Premises.”
Wonder’s lawyers sent Efferson a 30-day notice on July 28, the complaint said. They sent a three-day notice on October 6 after she still had not allowed an inspection, according to his side.
That notice said, “Owner has been prejudiced by the cancellation of the property insurance policy.”
The singer asked the court to end the oral deal and return the home to him. He also sought legal fees and up to $600 in statutory damages.
Efferson’s response rejects the account in the complaint. She says Wonder should have to fix the home where she has lived for almost four decades.
Her claims about mold and the other problems are allegations in her filing. The court has not treated them as proven facts.
The two sides also tell different stories about what Wonder promised when Efferson moved in. Before she filed her response, she said he had pushed her to take the property.
“I didn’t even want the house at first, but he kept insisting,” she told the Daily Mail.
AllHipHop previously reported that Efferson called Wonder a “gaslighter and a manipulator.”
She also said she paid for major work after the 1994 Northridge earthquake and later flooding. In her account, their oral deal was meant to end with the home becoming hers.
Wonder’s complaint describes a different deal. It says she had permission to live there without rent, but it does not give her ownership. The filing also said the home had been uninsured since August 4.
The case now has two competing sets of claims.
Wonder says Efferson blocked the inspection needed to protect the property. Efferson denies his case and says he should be ordered to make urgent repairs while he seeks to take back the home.