According to Rolling Stone, the lawsuit against late rapper Lil Peep’s record label First Access Entertainment will head to trial. Rolling Stone also reports that a Los Angeles judge denied the label’s request to dismiss the suit filed by his mother Liza Kathryn Womack.
Following Peep’s death from a fentanyl overdose in 2017, Womack filed a suit in 2019, claiming negligence and wrongful death due to FAE’s tour manager Belinda Mercer. Womack alleged that Mercer provided artists on the Come Over When You’re Sober tour drugs including cocaine, ketamine, Percocet, and Xanax. His mother also alleges that no one on the tour bus was trained to deliver life-saving aid such as Narcan or defibrillators nor able to recognize the signs of an overdose.
Lil Peep's Wrongful Death Lawsuit Will Head To Trial">Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images
Judge Teresa A. Beaudet determined that the evidence provided by his mother was enough to establish a “causal connection” with Peep’s death, but ruled statements from his labelmate Cold Hart inadmissible as hearsay. Hart accused Peep’s manager of directing the rapper to get sick by ingesting an excess of Xanax to get out of a show without losing money. Since he did not personally witness this, it could not be considered in the case. Fortunately, part of his statement was available to use. Hart was able to attest to Mercer providing drugs to the artists on the bus.
As Womack pushes forward in her case, there is the chance that Beaudet could dismiss the charges. The judge dismissed similar charges against Peep’s manager, Bryant “Chase” Ortega, saying the evidence didn’t show Ortega “directed” the negligence leading to the rapper’s death. His mother also claims that the label is withholding $4M from the rapper’s merch and sales, in an effort to stall the lawsuit.
[Via]