POP/ROCK - Oct. 2, 1987

A $20-million civil suit against Boy George, brought by the mother of a songwriter who died of a heroin overdose in British rocker’s apartment, has been dismissed in New York. U.S. District Judge Jack B. Weinstein ruled that courts in the United States had no jurisdiction because Boy George (a.k.a. George O’Dowd) lives in Britain. Sally Rudetsky filed a $44-million suit in October against O’Dowd, claiming that he failed to provide proper medical care for her son, Michael, 27. Michael Rudetsky was working with O’Dowd in Brixton, England, when he took heroin Aug. 5, 1986, and died the next day. The claim was subsequently amended to $20 million.