Rapper off the hook
2005-08-10 07:29
Los Angeles - A woman who claimed she was drugged and raped by Snoop Dogg and some of his associates after a television talk show taping has dropped her lawsuit against the US rap singer, the court confirmed on Tuesday.
Paperwork filed by Kylie Bell's attorney on Aug 3 asked a judge to dismiss the case "with prejudice", which means it could not be revived, according to court documents.
Snoop Dogg, whose birth name is Calvin Broadus, simultaneously dropped a countersuit he had filed, said his publicist, Meredith O'Sullivan.
Snoop Dogg paid the woman nothing "in the settlement", according to O'Sullivan, who declined to provide details of the deal that ended the litigation.
A complaint filed in a Los Angeles court accused one of the rapper's associates of giving the make-up artist a drugged cup of champagne following a Jan 2003 taping of the Jimmy Kimmel Live show in Hollywood.
Bell had tended to Snoop Dogg's stage make-up for his appearance on the show, according to her suit.
Bell, one of a group of make-up designers who shared an Emmy award for their work on HBO's popular Six Feet Under series, suspected the champagne was drugged because she "could not move very well", the suit indicated.
She claimed in court paperwork that she was then raped and sexually assaulted by Snoop Dogg and members of his entourage.
According to her court papers, Bell sought $5m for sexual assault, rape, negligence and emotional distress, and $20m in punitive damages.
The month before Bell filed her lawsuit, Snoop Dogg filed his suit against "Jane Doe", accusing her of trying to extort $5m from him for an alleged assault at a performance in 2003.
He denied any involvement in the alleged sex crime and claimed "Jane Doe" had threatened to tell reporters that he assaulted her and to sell her story to a tabloid and seek a book deal.
His court papers state that he "reluctantly made minor payments to Jane Doe for a limited period of time in the perhaps naive hope that she would drop" her allegations.