Suge Knight is currently awaiting trial for allegedly running over and killing his friend Terry Carter following an altercation in January. Now, Carter’s widow is suing Knight for her husband’s wrongful death, and has named Universal Studios, Dr. Dre, and Ice Cube among the co-defendants. Dre and Cube are producers for Universal’s film Straight Outta Compton, which is a biopic of the two rappers during their tenure with NWA.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Lilian Carter’s suit asserts that the studio and producers were negligent in providing adequate security on the set of Straight Outta Compton, despite the fact that Carter was not killed on the set. Carter died of wounds he sustained as a result of being backed over by Knight’s truck in the parking lot of Tam’s Burgers, a fast food restaurant. But that’s okay; the suit also names Tam’s Burgers as a defendant, saying that the establishment knew the area surrounding the restaurant was dangerous, but had failed to station security guards to deter violence.
Furthermore, the suit alleges that Universal was negligent in filming the biopic on location in Compton because of the well-known feud between Dr. Dre and Knight. And despite the plaintiff acknowledging that Dr. Dre warned security to keep Knight off of the set, and had at one time filed a restraining order against the former Death Row Records CEO, the suit still blames Dre and the other producers for not preventing Suge from getting onto the set. The suit does not venture what actions might have successfully kept Knight at bay.
While it’s true that there are laws regarding safe working conditions on film sets, it’s not clear if these complaints have merit, or if the plaintiff is simply attempting to extract damages from a major movie studio, the guy who sold his headphones for billions, and a successful Hollywood star, because Suge Knight has probably sunk all of his financial resources into years of legal representation. Dr. Dre’s attorney is inclined to believe the latter, calling the suit “preposterous.” You can read the suit here.