Rough month for Eminem.
Just a week after checking into rehab to kick a pill habit, the Grammy-winning hip-hop mega-star is facing a potentially big-bucks lawsuit over a tour bus accident.
Eminem, along with one his drivers and the company hired to shuttle the rapper and his entourage on the Anger Management 3 tour, was sued Thursday by a truck driver and his wife, both of whom were injured in a scary July 13 accident involving Eminem's coach that sent 11 people to the hospital.
The lawsuit, filed in St. Louis, Missouri by Breck and Ascension "Tina" Wyngarden against Eminem, driver Charlie Gilligard and Entertainment Coaches of America, seeks unspecified damages related to the incident, which occurred on a busy stretch of Interstate 70 just outside of Kansas City as the performers were en route from Chicago to a gig in Denver.
According to the suit, Gilligard tried to avoid slowing tractor-trailers in front of him by swerving onto the highway shoulder. While making the maneuver, the bus driver allegedly clipped Wyngarden's rig, triggering a pileup involving several other cars and two motorcyclists. The coach ended up flipping on the freeway median and landed on its side, blocking traffic and forcing police to close the highway for more than two hours.
Breck Wyngarden hurt his ribs, while Ascension sustained injuries to her head, neck and back. The two motorcyclists and a motorcycle passenger were also injured.
While Eminem and fellow tour headliners 50 Cent and Lil Jon were not on the bus at the time of the collision and escaped injury, several of their cohorts weren't so lucky. Among those sustaining mild to serious injuries were Em's deejay, Alchemist (aka Alan Maman), up-and-coming rapper Stat Quo real name: Stanley Benton), Stat Quo's manager, Joseph Fendrick, Alchemist's manager, Neil Maman, and Gilligard.
Reps for Eminem and Entertainment Coaches of America did not return phone calls seeking comment.
Jeff Lowe, a lawyer for the Wyngardens, said Missouri law bars plaintiffs from asking for a specific monetary award. But he added that the suit is warranted given his client's injuries.
The Anger Mangement tour wrapped up in Eminem's hometown of Detroit on Aug. 13. Four days later, the real Slim Shady bailed on a scheduled European citing exhaustion and an unspecified medical condition. The following day, his publicist confirmed that Eminem had entered rehab to be "treated for dependency on sleep medication."
The crash lawsuit is the second this month filed against the rapper otherwise known as Marshall Mathers III. Two weeks ago, his aunt and uncle, Betty and Jack Schmitt, filed a complaint claiming Eminem was trying to evict them from a house he had built for them and had also reneged on a promise to pay them an annual stipend of $100,000. They are seeking $350,000 in cash and ownership of the home.
All this comes after Detroit Free Press reported Eminem was ready to give up performing and recording and focus on producing other artists, something the rapper vehemently denied. Instead, he said, "I'm taking a break."
Sounds like he needs one.