Lil Peep

The lawsuit against late rapper Lil Peep’s record label First Access Entertainment will proceed to trial according to Rolling Stone, which reports that a Los Angeles judge denied the label’s request to dismiss the suit filed by Peep’s mother Liza Kathryn Womack.

Womack filed the suit in 2019, two years after the rapper’s death from an overdose of fentanyl in November of 2017, citing negligence and wrongful death due to FAE’s tour manager Belinda Mercer providing artists on the Come Over When You’re Sober tour drugs including cocaine, ketamine, Percocet, and Xanax. Among Womack’s other bases for suing were allegations that no one on the tour bus was trained in “life-saving apparatuses” for treating overdose such as Narcan or defibrillators — neither of which were provided — nor even to recognize signs of an overdose in the first place.

Judge Teresa A. Beaudet declared that the evidence provided by Peep’s mother was enough to establish a “causal connection” with Peep’s death, although she also ruled statements from Peep’s fellow musician and labelmate Cold Hart inadmissible as hearsay. Hart had claimed Peep’s managers telling the rapper to make “himself sick from taking a bunch of Xanax” to get out of a show without losing money. However, because he had not personally witnessed this, it could not be considered evidence.

Part of his statement was eligible though, as he was able to attest to Mercer providing the drugs to those on the bus. Beaudet acknowledged this part in her ruling, saying, “There’s no question there’s a triable issue as to whether (Mercer) provided the drugs or not. If you’re going to create an environment like that where drugs are flowing, and you’re providing it, and hey, you actually don’t have any life-saving device or any Narcan to help people who are going to have a problem with these drugs, it seems to me you are creating a very dangerous situation there… The fact (that the defendants) didn’t give the decedent adequate protection for that environment, I think that could add up to causation here.”

Unfortunately for Womack, Beaudet did dismiss similar charges against Peep’s co-manager, Bryant “Chase” Ortega, saying that the evidence did not show Ortega “directed” the negligence leading to Peep’s death. Peep’s mom also says that the label owes her $4 million from the rapper’s merch and music sales, which is being withheld in an effort to stall her lawsuit against them.

Lil Peep’s mother, Liza Womack, and her late son’s record label have long been entwined in a legal battle, and while it’s yet to have been resolved, Womack delivered another accusation against them. According to Rolling Stone the late rapper’s mother says First Access Entertainment owes $4 million to Peep’s estate and claims their failure to give her the money is a “transparent” attempt to derail the wrongful death and business lawsuit that was filed against the FAE and its boss. FAE denied the allegations at a court hearing on Tuesday and claimed Peep’s mother was to blame for the delay.

“FAE is trying to choke off her funds by denying her her royalty revenue that they know she’s owed,” Womack’s lawyer Paul A. Matiasic said during Tuesday’s court hearing. Matiasic adds that the $4 million owed to his client is royalty payments from Peep’s music that FAE allegedly “admitted” it owes to his estate. He also labeled the relationship between his client and FAE as “dysfunctional” and requested a court’s intervention in the matter.

“It’s not true that it’s dysfunctional,” FAE’s lawyer John W. Amberg said in court. “It also is not true that FAE owes the estate over $4 million. That’s simply not true. That’s just an argument used to gain someone’s sympathy here.”

The accusation against FAE comes four months after Womack revealed she suffered two strokes since the tragic death of her son at the end of 2017. “I am not going to die until I take care of this matter,” she said at the time in regards to wrongful death lawsuit. “I’m going to live. I have a mission.”

This fall will mark three years since Lil Peep tragically died from a drug overdose while on his tour bus prior to a Tuscon, AZ show. A resulting toxicology report labeled his cause of death as an accidental overdose due to a mix of the pain medication, fentanyl and Xanax. Marijuana, cocaine, the painkiller Tramadol, and a number of opioids were also found in his system. At the end of 2019, the late rapper’s mother sued his management team and alleged that they encouraged his drug use. One example includes one of Peep’s managers gifting Peep with a bottle of pills during his 2017 Peep The Show.

The lawsuit process has taken a toll on Peep’s mother, Liza Womack. According to Pitchfork, Womack revealed she’s suffered two strokes since her son passed away. “I’ve had two strokes, and I am not going to die until I take care of this matter,” she said. “I’m going to live. I have a mission.”

Womack also shared how she remembers her son and continues the fight for his justice.

“There’s one woman who is a helicopter pilot, a photographer, and also an artist, and I asked her if I could buy her painting — it wasn’t even for sale — and she would not take any money,” she said. “She had an art dealer send it to me. We texted a little bit, and I told her I talk to it. I don’t believe in the afterlife, which is one reason why this was so horribly painful, because he’s gone, he’s gone.” Womack added, “But I told her I do talk to the painting and I tell him, ‘Gussie, I got ya.’ I am not stopping. I’m not giving up, ever.”