Snoop Dogg Asks a Judge to Dismiss Him From the Drakeo the Ruler Wrongful Death Lawsuit, Claiming His Company Isn’t Responsible for the Tragedy

May 19–20, 2026 filings. Snoop Dogg’s LLC — SDLLC — moved for summary judgment in the suit brought by Drakeo’s brother over the December 18, 2021 Once Upon a Time in LA festival at Exposition Park.

Darrell Caldwell was 28. He was stabbed after a fight behind the main stage and died at a hospital. That fact is not in dispute in these clips. Who had a legal duty to keep the backstage from becoming that fight is.

Snoop’s declaration, per TMZ and AceShowbiz: the company did not sign the lease, does not own or hold the park, did not plan the festival, did not hire security, did not witness or take part in the killing, had no relationship with the people who did it. The only paper they cite is a $500,000 deal for a one-hour set. Video, their lawyers say, shows no SDLLC employee in the backstage pocket when it happened. He performed. That, they argue, is the end of the hook.

The family theory, from earlier coverage of the same docket, put the headliner and the production orbit on the list of people who should have controlled access and security. A Los Angeles Superior Court judge, James Montgomery, had already knocked LAFC and booking outfit Bobby Dee Presents off the caption on May 10 — no triable issue, and the family did not even oppose LAFC. USC was out in March. The list shrinks. Snoop is trying to leave with them.

Summary judgment is not a funeral. It is a request that the court say there is nothing for a jury to try against this defendant. If the judge agrees, SDLLC is gone. If not, Snoop stays in a case about a dead rapper and a festival that used his name on the poster.

Wrongful death law asks who failed a duty. It does not ask the internet to retry a stabbing. Calvin Broadus Jr. says his company sold an hour onstage. The estate says the night was bigger than the hour. That is the motion. Drakeo does not get the hour back either way.