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Snoop Dogg’s alcopop case allowed to proceed to trial, fans sue over live show railing collapse

By | Published on Tuesday 30 August 2016

Wiz Kahlifa & Snoop Dogg

A judge has allowed Snoop Dogg’s lawsuit against Pabst Brewing Co to proceed to trial. The rapper accuses the company of breaching the terms of an endorsement deal.

As previously reported, the rapper signed up to promote alcopop Blast By Colt 45 in 2011, a deal which ran for three years. His contract contained a clause entitling Snoop to 10% of the profits if the brand was sold before January 2016. He sued in 2015, claiming the company had failed to pay him his cut when Pabst Holdings Inc, which is the sole shareholder in Pabst Brewing, was sold to a third party.

Pabst argues that it did not technically sell ownership of the brand, merely the rights to control it, and that such a deal is excluded from its profit share arrangement with the rapper. Snoop’s lawyers claim that the drinks firm intentionally structured the sale of Pabst Holdings Inc so that it could avoid paying the rapper what he was due. The company’s lawyers counter that it would have been “ridiculous” to complicate a $700 million deal simply to avoid handing some money over to Snoop Dogg.

The judge overseeing yesterday’s pre-trial hearing criticised both sides, reports The Hollywood Reporter. He said that both parties had “conjured up a lot of facts on this case” and that the whole thing was “maddening”.

As a result, he said that there were too many pieces of conflicting information for him to provide a summary judgement, which Pabst had been calling for, therefore allowing the case to proceed to trial. A jury will now have to try to work out what the hell went on, with the trial expected to begin in October.

Elsewhere in Snoop Dogg legal news, he and Wiz Khalifa are both being sued over the railing collapse at a recent show in New Jersey, which left more than 40 people injured.

As previously reported, the rappers were performing together at the BB&T Pavilion venue in the city of Camden earlier this month when the three foot metal railing gave way, sending fans falling down on to the concrete below.

Last week, three separate lawsuits were filed in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, with seventeen people claiming damages for a variety of injuries, reports Courthouse News. Live Nation is ultimately accused of liability, the lawsuits saying that it was responsible for repairs that should have been done in order to avoid the accident.

“Live Nation made the repairs in a cheap and reckless fashion because their focus was more on cutting costs than it was on the safety of the concertgoers”, claims one complaint.

Snoop Dogg and Wiz Khalifa are both accused of making the situation worse by “inciting the crowd to a dangerous level”, when they encouraged fans near the back of the outdoor venue to move closer to the stage before the incident happened. The surge as people followed these instructions caused the crowd to suddenly push hard against the already loose railings, further weakening the concrete in which they stood.

Neither rapper, nor Live Nation, nor a fourth defendant, National Event Services, have commented as yet.



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