After rejecting a request from First Access Entertainment (FAE) to dismiss the case, a judge has ruled that the wrongful death lawsuit filed by Lil Peep's mother Liza Womack will in fact move forward.
According to Rolling Stone, Judge Teresa Beaudet upheld Womack's 2019 lawsuit against her son's former management company and tour manager, Belinda Mercer, saying that she had demonstrated a "causal connection" between them and the rapper's fatal drug overdose. The case alleges that FAE and Mercer were negligent in their oversight of the artist's career and contributed to an unsafe working environment that left Lil Peep feeling "stressed, overwhelmed, burnt out, exhausted and physically unwell" towards the end of his 2017 tour.
"There’s no question there’s a triable issue as to whether [Mercer] provided the drugs or not," Judge Beaudet said in the hearing. "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."
FAE had previously asked to have the lawsuit thrown out based on testimony from GothBoiClique artist Cold Hart, but a portion of that was dismissed as being inadmissible hearsay. However, Judge Beaudet did dismiss the claims against co-manager Bryant “Chase” Ortega, saying that Womack did not have enough evidence linking him to the alleged negligence.
The hearing comes a month after texts included in a 372 page evidence document were unsealed, which Womack's lawyers allege reveal the full extent of a FAE and Mercer's management describing them as "dangerous, discordant, inept, and engaged in conduct that contributed to [Peep]’s death."
The trial is expected to start in March 2023.
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