Notorious B.I.G.’s Family Seeks $2 Million in Legal Fees From City After Mistrial in Civil Suit

Relatives of late rap star Notorious B.I.G. on Tuesday asked a federal judge to order the city of Los Angeles to pay them more than $2 million in attorney fees.

U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper in July declared a mistrial in the family’s wrongful-death suit over the artist’s 1997 slaying, chastising city lawyers for deliberately withholding pertinent documents, and ordering the city to pick up the plaintiffs’ legal tab.

B.I.G., born Christopher Wallace, was gunned down March 9, 1997, after a music-industry party in the Mid-Wilshire District. The crime remains unsolved.

Also today, the City Council is expected to consider in closed session the family’s offer to settle the case for $18 million.

The council will probably reject the offer, city officials said.

“I’m not prepared to pay $18 million to settle that case,” said Councilman Dennis Zine, a former police sergeant. In the lawsuit, the Wallace family alleges that rogue police officers, working in league with then-rap mogul Marion “Suge” Knight, orchestrated the B.I.G. killing as part of East Coast-West Coast hip-hop rivalries.

Knight and David Mack, a former Los Angeles Police Department officer now in prison for bank robbery, have denied any involvement in the slaying.

Movies, magazine articles and documentaries have examined the family’s theory, without producing conclusive evidence.