*A Houston woman has launched a $100 million lawsuit against rapper Snoop Dogg and Death Row Records, claiming they defrauded her of over $100 million.
Lydia Harris is no stranger to legal battles with the label. She is the ex-wife of Michael “Harry-O” Harris, one of Death Row’s co-founders, and previously won a $107 million judgment against Death Row Records and its former owner, Marion “Suge” Knight, in 2005. That ruling, which included $60 million in punitive damages, remains unpaid. Because of this, Harris demands that Snoop Dogg stop using the Death Row name and its related assets, per The Houston Chronicle.
In 2022, Snoop Dogg purchased Death Row Records through a bankruptcy sale. Harris claims that since then, he has exploited the label’s brand by selling merchandise and other products, actions she says violate the 2005 court decision. She maintains that any use of the Death Row name requires her explicit written permission until the judgment is fully paid.
The lawsuit extends beyond Snoop Dogg and Death Row Records. Harris has also accused Time Warner, Universal Music Group, and Interscope Records of engaging in “fraud on the court, civil conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and abuse of legal process” to avoid paying the original judgment. Furthermore, she alleges violations of civil RICO laws, including bankruptcy and wire fraud, suggesting the bankruptcy sale was a strategy designed to dodge the 2005 ruling.
To prevent further unauthorized use of the Death Row brand, Harris has requested the court to establish a constructive trust, accusing multiple parties of organized fraud linked to the label’s management.
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In April, a judge denied Snoop Dogg’s motion to dismiss the case. Snoop’s legal team had argued that Harris’s claim was void because she accepted a $1 million “good faith” payment from Knight, which they said ended her right to pursue more money. They accused her of being “a bad faith litigant” who “continued a pattern of harassment in California for years and has now shifted her harassment to a new forum in Texas.”
Harris is pursuing punitive damages and seeks an immediate injunction to stop the use of Death Row’s intellectual property, emphasizing her determination to enforce the 2005 court ruling.
