At the end of each month, we at hte GJEL blog have been compiling a list of celebrities wrapped up in the news due to personal injury or wrongful death lawsuits. In April, Hulk Hogan, the Notorious B.I.G. and Owen Wilson made our list, and in May, it was Jason Alexander, Suge Night, and O.J. McDuffie. Behold June’s list of personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits among the rich and famous.
- On June 25, Michael Jackson‘s father filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the king of pop’s doctor Conrad Murphy for negligence and secrecy. Jackson seeks more than $75,000 from the doctor who allegedly gave his son a mix of sedatives at his Los Angeles mansion on a regular basis. In February, Murray pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter charges and his attorneys have said that Jackson did not take any medication that “should have” killed him. The complaint indicates that Jackson’s wrongful death suits won’t end with Murphy. “Mr. Jackson believes there are other parties responsible for Michael Jackson’s death, but has not yet gathered sufficient information regarding their potential liability or responsibility,” it states.
- The wife of popular actor David Carradine has launched a wrongful death lawsuit against French film company MS2 S.A. In the lawsuit, Anne Carradine alleges that the company was “negligent in failing to follow industry standard and provide David Carradine, the performer, with sufficient assistant during the course of filming” the movie Stretch in Thailand. Carradine, best known for his roles in Kung Fu and Kill Bill, was 72 when he was found dead in his hotel room last June.
- Rap mogul Marion “Suge” Knight is suing Kanye West for providing insufficient security at a 2005 party in which Knight was shot in the leg. “I figured I could sit him down, man to man, and get this resolved,” said Knight, the founder of Death Row Records. After the six hour meeting, he told a reporter “I’m disappointed.” Suge Knight has been named in every one of these lists; he was arrested last month for assault with a deadly weapon; and in April he was named in a wrongful death lawsuit by the Notorious B.I.G.’s mother.
Photo credit: National Archives