HEAVY D - RAPPER SUES OVER BASKETBALL STAMPEDE

RAPPER SUES OVER BASKETBALL STAMPEDE

Rapper HEAVY D is suing an insurance company for $1.5 million (GBP833,000) he insists it owes him after nine people were crushed to death in a stampede at a celebrity basketball game in 1991. The 39-year-old, real name DWIGHT MYERS, says in court papers he purchased a $1 million (GBP555,000) policy from the National Union Fire Insurance Company in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for the event that he helped organise. Approximately 5,000 people showed up at a City College of New York gymnasium, which had a capacity for only 2,700 people. Fans crowded down a stairwell to a closed door, where people at the bottom were crushed, nine fatally. The NOW THAT WE FOUND LOVE singer says the insurance policy covered him for anything involving his work as an entertainer, which included the heavily promoted basketball game featuring music stars that he, rap mogul SEAN 'DIDDY COMBS and others had organised. The lawsuit, filed on Friday (27OCT06) in Manhattan's State Supreme Court, says the insurance company exhausted its legal appeals and has been ordered by the State Supreme Court's Appellate Division to reimburse Myers for payments to victims or their families. Myers is seeking $791,899 (GBP440,000) in reimbursement, plus interest of $381,167 (GBP212,000) for personal injury and wrongful death claims and is also asking for $324,919 (GBP181,000) for legal fees.