Saturday, July 12, 2008

Rapper Too Short Could Loose Recording Studio In Oakland


OAKLAND — Oakland rapper Too $hort faces losing the downtown recording studio he recently opened if the music icon does not turn over more than $1 million owed from a 1996 settlement involving a deadly car crash.

The Alameda County Sheriff's Office has been ordered to seize the equipment Too $hort installed in the UpAllNite studio, which he opened in May on Franklin Street, to pay the remainder of the settlement now totaling more than $1.1 million, including interest charges.
The settlement stems from a 1991 head-on collision in Oakland that killed passenger James Ellerbee, 22, and seriously injured the driver, Matthew Martin.

Too $hort, whose legal name is Todd Shaw, was not directly responsible for the crash.
Ellerbee's parents, however, brought a $17 million wrongful death suit against Shaw because his GMC pickup truck collided with the Mercury Cougar Ellerbee and Martin were in.
According to court documents, Shaw was uninsured and legally drunk. His blood alcohol level was .18, more than twice the legal limit of 0.8.

He had also clipped a parked car about 400 feet away and was fleeing the scene of that accident moments before the two vehicles collided head on about 2:15 a.m. April 25, 1991, in the 3000 block of 73rd Avenue. The Mercury Cougar had crossed over the center line as it came around a curve. Police at the time said both drivers were speeding.

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