LOS ANGELES(AP) – A judge has ordered Marion “Suge”Knight to pay $107 million to a woman who claims she helped the rap mogul startDeath Row Records, ruling Knight and his attorneys failed to answer questionsand provide information in the case.
SuperiorCourt Judge Ronald M. Sohigian ordered Knight and his companies, including ThaRow Inc., to pay Lydia Harris, who claims she is owed money from the recordinglabel she helped establish.
She ismarried to Michael “Harry O” Harris, an imprisoned drug dealer, who has claimedhe put up $1.5 million from behind bars in 1991 to help start Death RowRecords. Knight has repeatedly denied that contention.
The judgmentincludes $60 million in punitive damages, $45 million in economic damages and$2 million in noneconomic damages.
The judgeissued the judgment earlier this month after finding that Knight and hisattorneys violated court rules requiring them to answer questions by andproviding information to Harris and her attorneys.
A phone callto a Knight attorney seeking comment was not returned Wednesday.
In her 2002lawsuit, which didn’t reach trial, Harris claimed she and Knight in 1989 becameequal founding partners of Death Row Records.
When Knightrealized how lucrative the label would become, he pushed her out, Harrisclaimed.
Harris saidKnight defamed her in hopes of destroying her credibility in the music industryand with new artists.
“His conductmade it clear that he did not intend to honor his agreement or pay the sharesof profit due her,” said her attorney, David Casselman. “He also publicly insultedher and falsely accused her of promiscuity and incompetence.”
Knight hashad a series of legal and criminal troubles.
In 2003, hewas ordered to pay $5.5 million to managers of artists who accused him ofstealing one of their acts. Knight was released from prison in 2001 afterserving time for assault and weapons violations.
He recentlyserved an additional 10-month prison sentence for violating his parole andstriking a Hollywood nightclub valet.
