Houston woman sues Snoop Dogg to shut down Death Row Records

The legal battle continues.

NBCUNIVERSAL UPFRONT EVENTS — 2025 NBCUniversal Upfront — Pictured: Snoop Dogg, “Snoop Dogg’s New Year’s Eve” on NBC at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City on Monday, May 12, 2025 — (Photo by: Ralph Bavaro/NBCUniversal via Getty Images)

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In March, Houston resident Lydia Harris filed a $100 million lawsuit in the Houston courts against West Coast rapper Snoop Dogg and the iconic record label Death Row Records, alleging that they defrauded her out of over $100 million. Now Harris has submitted a motion for Snoop Dogg to cease using all intellectual property of Death Row Records and to pay punitive damages for its continued use.

Until a $107 million settlement judgment she won against Death Row Records two decades ago is completed, Harris, the ex-wife of investor and Death Row co-founder Michael “Harry-O” Harris, is demanding that the label’s name and assets be put on hold to prevent continued unlawful enrichment.

In 2005, a California judge ruled in favor of Harris against Death Row Records and then owner Marion “Suge” Knight, awarding her $107 million, including $60 million in punitive damages. The judgment has not been satisfied by Death Row Records since the ruling, hence Harris’s Houston court filing.

Snoop Dogg, legal name Calvin Broadus, bought Death Row Records in 2022 in a bankruptcy sale. Harris is alleging he has used the image and intellectual property of the brand to profit from, which goes against the initial ruling back in 2005. Death Row Records has been used on merchandise officially sold by Snoop Dogg, as well as being used on products such as hard seltzer.

Harris argues that any use of the name Death Row Records would require her express written permission, as the original ruling still has not been satisfied. Harris has requested that the court use successor liability for the new owners and establish a constructive trust for the brand.

In addition to “fraud on the court, civil conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and abuse of legal process,” Harris accused Death Row Records, Time Warner, Universal Music Group and Interscope Records of plotting to evade paying her a $107 million judgment a Los Angeles judge rendered in 2005 in her initial Houston lawsuit. She also includes civil RICO allegations, alleging bankruptcy fraud and wire fraud.

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In addition to the motion, Harris and her legal team have also filed a memorandum of law in support of the motion, asking for the creation of a constructive trust to prevent the brand of Death Row Records from being used for unjust enrichment and from further malicious conduct. The memorandum provides that the bankruptcy sale of the company was used to prevent the initial ruling from being honored. The memorandum also files a RICO claim on the case, alleging organized defrauding by several different parties.

This all comes after a judge denied a motion from Snoop Dogg’s legal team that sought to have the case dismissed back in April.

Snoop Dogg and his legal team filed a motion to dismiss, alleging Harris received a $1 million “good faith” payment from former owner Suge Knight, and that once Knight filed for bankruptcy, the payment she received stopped her interest in pursuing the rest of the awarded funds. They argued that once Snoop Dogg acquired the record label, Harris began a renewed push to enforce the previous judgment.

The motion called Harris “a bad faith litigant” who “continued a pattern of harassment in California for years and has now shifted her harassment to a new forum in Texas.”