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"So Sue Me": the $300 million in claims against Death Row
In 1997, SPIN lists the civil suits against Death Row: more than $300 million, including the claim by Tupac's estate. What became of them.
Original: “So Sue Me” · SPIN, “Exposure” section · no byline · 1997
Suge Knight was in prison for probation violations. The IRS and the DEA were involved in a federal grand jury investigation into his label’s business. Into this situation, in 1997, came a wave of civil suits against Death Row. SPIN summed it up in one sharp line: “The hardest working man in show business may be Suge Knight’s lawyer.” Within a year, the claims added up to more than $300 million.
The allegations: fictitious rent, threats and unpaid bills
The list of plaintiffs ran from business partners to a credit card company. Afeni Shakur and estate administrator Richard Fischbein were seeking $150 million. Their allegation: Death Row had loaded Tupac’s account with fictitious expenses, including rent for homes he never lived in and jewelry Knight had given him as a gift. The estate, they said, also owned 152 unreleased songs.
Others from Death Row’s orbit went to court as well. Producer Johnny “J” Jackson, who worked on All Eyez on Me, wanted unpaid fees. He also accused the label of pressuring artists with threats into waiving their rights. Dick Griffey and Tracy “The D.O.C.” Curry considered themselves co-founders and also demanded $150 million. Add American Express over $1.6 million in unpaid card charges, a stylist, and a concertgoer who was allegedly beaten in 1993. Death Row denied nearly everything.
Claims are not judgments: the 1997 settlement
With sums like these, caution is in order: a damages claim is not a judgment. The estate’s $150 million was far above the $17 million reported in April 1997. It may have been an amended version of the suit, but that could not be confirmed.
What is certain is the outcome. Before the end of 1997, Afeni Shakur and Death Row settled: she won the right to release about 100 unreleased Death Row recordings. The label kept the masters of All Eyez on Me and The Don Killuminati. How the suit by Griffey and The D.O.C. ended is not documented; many accounts today list them as co-founders of the label.
For Death Row, the wave of lawsuits was the beginning of the end
The label filed for bankruptcy in 2006 after Lydia Harris, wife of early backer Michael “Harry-O” Harris, won a $107 million judgment against Knight. The catalog was auctioned off in 2009 and has changed hands several times since. Suge Knight has been serving a 28-year sentence for voluntary manslaughter since 2018.