A Los Angeles judge once again today upheld a $107 million judgment against imprisoned former rap mogul Marion “Suge” Knight and Death Row Records, which was awarded back in 2005.
Over the objection of Lydia Harris, the woman who obtained the original judgment and later agreed with Knight that it should be voided, Superior Court Judge David Sotelo said he would not reconsider his December decision to reinstate the judgment or his March decision to affirm that ruling.
“Accordingly, the court finds that Harris’ third-time motion is untimely, that Harris has provided no legal basis for her request … and that Harris lacks standing to challenge the judgment,” Sotelo wrote.
Harris maintained she and her husband, Michael, made investments in Death Row Records at its infancy in 1989 and that she was the company’s first vice president. She sued after the former rap mogul allegedly pushed her out after the label started making money.
Last Sept. 20, at Harris’ request, Sotelo voided the judgment after Harris raised issues with how her lawyers from the firm of Wasserman, Comden & Casselman won the case against Knight and Death Row Records.
Harris’ current attorney, Dermot Givens, alleged the motion to void the judgment was necessary because Harris’ former attorneys, the bankruptcy trustee and others worked together to use her to wrongfully obtain the judgment.
Givens alleged that Harris has not received any money from her lawyers who collected part of the default judgment.
But attorneys for the law firm then filed court papers asking that the judgment be reinstated, stating that Harris has already collected more than $1 million on the judgment.
The case was back in court Wednesday because Harris once again asked the judge to vacate his December decision and reinstate the September ruling that was in her favor.
Lawyers for the law firm stated in their court papers that the latest motion was a “rehashing” of the March motion.
“It is difficult to imagine what prompted plaintiff to make the instant motion, but it could not have been a sincere belief that the motion has merit,” according to the firm’s attorneys’ court papers.
Givens stated in his court papers that lawyers for the law firm provided no evidence whether the 2005 judgment was split into pre- and post- bankruptcy segments.
Givens also contended that the judge who entered the 2005 judgment lacked jurisdiction to do so because the claims were part of the bankruptcy estate.
Knight, 55, was sentenced to 28 years in prison in October 2018 for running over and killing former rap music label owner Terry Carter in 2015 on the set of the film “Straight Outta Compton.”
