Rapper Too Short could lose recording studio
By Angela Woodall | Bay Area News Group
PUBLISHED: July 11, 2008 at 11:58 p.m. | UPDATED: August 15, 2016 at 6:17 p.m.
OAKLAND — Oakland rapper Too $hort faces losing the downtown recording studio he recently opened if the music icon does not turn over more than $1 million owed from a 1996 settlement involving a deadly car crash.
The Alameda County Sheriff's Office has been ordered to seize the equipment Too $hort installed in the UpAllNite studio, which he opened in May on Franklin Street, to pay the remainder of the settlement now totaling more than $1.1 million, including interest charges.
The settlement stems from a 1991 head-on collision in Oakland that killed passenger James Ellerbee, 22, and seriously injured the driver, Matthew Martin.
Too $hort, whose legal name is Todd Shaw, was not directly responsible for the crash.
Ellerbee's parents, however, brought a $17 million wrongful death suit against Shaw because his GMC pickup truck collided with the Mercury Cougar Ellerbee and Martin were in.
According to court documents, Shaw was uninsured and legally drunk. His blood alcohol level was .18, more than twice the legal limit of 0.8.
He had also clipped a parked car about 400 feet away and was fleeing the scene of that accident moments before the two vehicles collided head on about 2:15 a.m. April 25, 1991, in the 3000 block of 73rd Avenue. The Mercury Cougar had crossed over the center line as it came around a curve. Police at the time said both drivers were speeding.
Shaw's lawyer argued that his client was driving at 30 mph to 35 mph and that his blood alcohol level was lower when retested later, court documents show.
Hours before the case was set to go to court, Shaw agreed to pay the family and Martin $1 million. But 12 years later, Shaw has evaded paying the full settlement amount, lawyers on behalf Ellerbee's family and Martin claim.
"It was very, very frustrating," said Bobby Ellerbee, the father of James Ellerbee.
"We were waiting and waiting and waiting "… for a payment that never came," Bobby Ellerbee said. "He knows he owes."
Shaw did not respond to numerous attempts to reach him.
He moved to Atlanta in 1995 and announced a year later he was retiring as a performer. He came back to Oakland in 2008, and joined a fellow performer in a recording studio venture that was supposed to spark an Oakland music renaissance.
Phaedra Parks, Shaw's lawyer, said Shaw paid $500,000 over the years, but has not been able to come up with the lump sum all at once.
She said Shaw wants to "reach an agreement everyone can live with."
"Todd is dedicated to the community," she said. "Whatever he needs to do, he will do it."
Court documents indicate Shaw has paid $282,000.
Martin's lawyer, Roger Patton, said his client has received sporadic small payments from Shaw. Patton said Shaw told him he did not have enough money to pay more.
Montie Day, a lawyer who was hired to collect the balance of $718,000, said he has pursued Shaw across three cities and two states. Day said he had to go after Shaw's assets and earnings, such as $11,000 he recently levied from a record label for which Too $hort worked.
"It's been like spinning my wheels," Day said.
Sheriff's deputies have not seized the recording equipment at the UpAllNite Studio, saying that they tried unsuccessfully to serve Shaw with a court order.
A publicist and Shaw acquaintance said Shaw moved the equipment from the Franklin Street studio to Atlanta, a claim refuted by Shaw's lawyer and others.
Shaw may, however, have equipment at the MacArthur Boulevard building of Youth UpRising, a group serving at-risk youths that Shaw has been involved with as a mentor for several years.
Deputies also have tried for more than a week to serve Shaw with an order to turn over his assets, as well as appear in Superior Court on Aug. 13 to explain why he did not submit a list of his property to Day.
Reach Angela Woodall at 510-208-6413 or awoodall@bayareanewsgroup.com.
Angela Woodall