Notorious B.I.G. Family's Civil Suit All Played Out

Federal judge puts a coda on eight-year fight between the rapper's relatives and the city of Los Angeles

Notorious B.I.G.'s murder remains unsolved, and his family has never let Los Angeles forget it.

A federal judge has dismissed the wrongful death lawsuit filed by the rapper's mother, Voletta Wallace, against the city, in which she claimed the police department purposely dropped the ball on the investigation into her son's death to shield whoever fatally shot the Ready to Die artist in 1997.

But while B.I.G., whose real name was Christopher Wallace, is long gone, his memory has been kept alive by court filings just as much as it has by his musical legacy.

Wallace first sued the city in 2002. The case went to trial in 2005 but L.A. Superior Court Judge Florence-Marie Cooper, since deceased, declared a mistrial after learning that the LAPD and the city's attorneys withheld documents that connected two imprisoned police officers to the crime.

The judge ordered the city to pay Wallace $1.1 million in sanctions in January 2006. Wallace refiled her suit in 2007, adding the two aforementioned cops as defendants.

The hefty complaint was dismissed April 5 without prejudice, meaning she could refile her case at another time.

But while this would appear to be another nail in Biggie Smalls' coffin, the Wallace family is still carrying a torch for criminal justice.

"We run the risk of pursuing a case against some people, and later finding out we went after the wrong people," Bradley Gage, an attorney for the fam, told the Los Angeles Times, adding that the 13-year-old criminal case has been "gathering speed and steam."

"There is benefit to both sides on waiting on this case. Murder has no statute of limitations, so the criminal issues linger on."