Lawsuit filed against LA over death of rapper Notorious B.I.G. dismissed, but may not be over

Biggie Smalls wrongful death lawsuit dismissed

LOS ANGELES — Court filings show a long-running federal lawsuit over the death of rapper Notorious B.I.G. against the city of Los Angeles has been dismissed.

Attorneys for the estate of the rapper and the city agreed to dismiss the case “without prejudice,” a legal designation that means the allegations could be brought in another lawsuit.

The case was first filed in 2002, five years after the rapper’s death. It went to trial in 2005, but it ended in a mistrial after a judge said a police detective had hidden statements by a jailhouse informant linking the killing to two former officers.

B.I.G., born Christopher Wallace and known as Biggie Smalls, was 24 when he was gunned down in March 1997, after leaving a late-night party at a Los Angeles museum.

A police investigation into the rapper’s death is ongoing.