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Huge Default Falls on Rap Mogul Like Cold, Cold Rain
Rapper Daz Dillinger has won a $25.5 million default judgment against perpetually embattled rap mogul Marion “Suge” Knight and Death Row Records in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
Now the question is whether Knight can get the judgment, which his attorney says could wipe out the pioneering rap record label; no renamed Tha Row, reversed.
In part, Knight and Death Row blame the default judgment on a blanket of fear that enveloped the record label following the killings of two of its employees last year.
The uneasy atmosphere hampered communications between Knight and his in-house counsel, who apparently decided to stop coming to the office for a time, according to the lawyer’s declaration.
The communications breakdown led to confusion and inattention regarding the defense of Dillinger’s suit, according to the documents.
However, according to the case records, Dillinger’s attorneys believe that the blanket of fear is really a smoke of factual distortions designed to allow Knight to wriggle out of the jaws of their victory.
A hearing on reconsidering and vacating the big reward is scheduled for Jan. 28.
Robert C. Baker, who defended OJ Simpson in the wrongful death civil suit stemming from the 1984 murders of Simpson’s former wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman, and who was hired in late December, several weeks after the default judgment, will represent Knight at the hearing.
Dillinger, an early Death Row artist who reportedly signed with the gangsta rap label in 1993 and was a member of rapper Snoop Dogg’s Tha Dogg Pound, will be represented by the Beverly Hills firm of Fruend & Brackey, Dillinger’s real name is Delmar Arnaud.
The default judgment, handed down Dec. 6 by Judge Paul Gubman but previously unreported, is only one of the legal troubles that recently have been falling like cold, cold rain on Knight.
Shortly before Christmas, Knight won another trip behind bars for an alleged parole violation. He’s still in there, at least until the state prison terms board hears his case within the next few weeks. Knight served nearly five years in state and federal custody on a variety of charges, including firearms assault. He was released on parole in August 2001.
In November, the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department conducted raids on Death Row’s Beverly Hills offices and on Knight’s homes, including one in Malibu. The raids were part of an investigation into gang killings, including the shooting April 3 of Knight’s friend, Death Row employee Alton McDonald.
The latter date is important in the Dillinger case because McDonald died just one day after he and others from Death Row met with Baker’s firm about retaining Baker, Death Row’s in-house attorney Theresa Bingham said in a declaration.
Death Row didn’t retain Baker then, she said in the declaration.
Besides McDonald, those attending the meeting included Knight and Bingham.
In her declaration, Bingham state that, after McDonald’s death, “there was a great deal of concern, both personally and at Death Row, AKA Tha Row, that individuals associated with Mr. Knight were at risk.”
Bingham also said that she “left working directly” with Knight last summer.
“The primary reason was an underlying fear that other individuals may be at risk simply for being in the presence of Mr. Knight,” Bingham said in the declaration.
She also noted that, as a result of the murder of Death Row graphic artist Henry Smith on Oct. 16, she “continued to stay away from Mr. Knight’s offices.”
In a subsequent declaration filed earlier this month, Bingham said her being “upset” over the deaths meant that she was “not a productive employee” who paid sufficient attention to Death Row’s litigation.
Death Row also has blamed the breakup of its relationship with the Christensen Miller firm for its failure to defend against the Dillinger action. Court papers indicate that Christensen Miller dropped Death Row in late 2001 because of unpaid fees of $300,000. Dillinger sued in August 2001.
Meanwhile, Baker told me Friday that he believes he has a fighting chance of winning a reversal of the default judgment. For one thing, the award greatly exceeds the amount claimed in Dillinger’s breach of contract suit. $1 million, Baker said. Moreover, Knight claims he was never served with notice of the default judgment, Baker said.
