The Slim Shady LP - Lawsuits

Lawsuits

On September 17, 1999, Eminem's mother, Deborah Nelson, filed a $10 million lawsuit against him for slander based on his claim that she uses drugs in the line "I just found out my mom does more dope than I do" from "My Name Is". After a two-year long trial, she was awarded $25,000, of which she received $1,600 after legal fees. Eminem was not surprised that his mother had filed the lawsuit against him, referring to her as a "lawsuit queen", and alleging that "That's how she makes money. When I was five, she had a job on the cash register at a store that sold chips and soda. Other than that, I don't remember her working a day in her life." She later filed another lawsuit against him for emotional damages suffered during the first trial, which was later dismissed.

In December 2001, DeAngelo Bailey, a janitor living in Roseville, Michigan was made the subject of the song "Brain Damage" in which he is portrayed as a school bully, filed a $1 million lawsuit against Eminem for slander and invasion of privacy. Bailey's attorney stated "Eminem is a Caucasian male who faced criticism within the music industry that he had not suffered through difficult circumstances growing up and he was therefore a 'pretender' in the industry ... Eminem used Bailey, his African-American childhood schoolmate, as a pawn in his effort to stem the tide of criticism." In 1982, Eminem's mother unsuccessfully sued the Roseville school district for not protecting her son, as she claimed that attacks from bullies caused him headaches, nausea, and antisocial behavior. Additionally, Bailey had previously admitted to bullying Eminem in the April 1999 issue of Rolling Stone. The lawsuit was later dismissed by a judge, who, in her explanation, wrote a humorous rap verse: "Bailey thinks he's entitled to some monetary gain/Because Eminem used his name in vain."

In September 2003, 70-year-old widow Harlene Stein filed suit against Eminem and Dr. Dre on the grounds that "Guilty Conscience" contains an unauthorized sample of "Pigs Go Home" composed for the film Getting Straight by her husband, Ronald Stein, who died in 1988. Although the album's liner notes state that the song contains an "interpolation" of "Pigs Go Home", Stein is not credited as a composer and his wife was not paid royalties for use of the song. The lawsuit requested for 5 percent of the retail list price of 90 percent of the all copies of the record sold in America, and 2.5 percent of the retail price of 90 percent of the copies of the album sold internationally.