A federal judge threw out a $70 million lawsuit filed by an anti-gangsta rap crusader who claimed lawyers for two record labels tried to drive her to emotional and financial ruin.
C. DeLores Tucker and her husband sued in 1999, claiming she was the victim of malicious prosecution because of her campaign against gangsta rap.
According to her lawsuit, she met with executives from Time Warner and Death Row Records in 1995 to try to persuade them to clean up the language in gangsta rap.
The Tuckers claimed that Death Row Records, rap label Interscope, five attorneys and two hired investigators then tried to destroy them financially by filing lawsuits alleging unfair business practices, racketeering and extortion.
A lawyer for Tucker said Wednesday’s ruling by U.S. District Judge Robert Takasugi dismissing her lawsuit would be appealed. A lawyer for Death Row Records declined comment.
Tucker and her husband earlier sued the estate of Tupac Shakur for $10 million for “loss of consortium” and other claims involving references to Tucker in songs on Shakur’s album “All Eyez on Me.” The rapper, who was shot to death in Las Vegas in 1996, rhymed Tucker’s name with an obscenity.
That suit was also dismissed. The Tuckers then sued Time and Newsweek magazines for libel, alleging they mischaracterized her dispute with the estate.
The U.S. Supreme Court refused to take the case last year.
