Kodak Black is now the only defendant left in a $10.6 million civil lawsuit filed by two men injured during a 2022 shooting outside a Los Angeles afterparty hosted by Justin Bieber, with the plaintiffs claiming the rapper instigated the violence that left them and Black wounded.
During a hearing Wednesday in Los Angeles, attorneys for Adam Rahman and Mark Schaefer asked the court to declare Black in default, alleging he never responded to the suit.
“Kodak has never been served with any lawsuit from California,” Black’s attorney Bradford Cohen told Rolling Stone. “I find it unusual that they’re attempting to sue the very person who was the most injured out of the individuals who got shot.”
The civil trial was initially scheduled to begin this month, but the judge has vacated the date.
The plaintiffs argue Kodak Black was the catalyst for the altercation that escalated into gunfire outside The Nice Guy, a West Hollywood restaurant, following a Bieber-hosted Super Bowl weekend event in February 2022.
The lawsuit initially named Bieber and the venue’s owners as co-defendants, but both were later removed.
In June 2024, a judge ruled the shooting was not “foreseeable” by the restaurant, leading to the dismissal of the corporate defendants. Bieber was voluntarily dropped from the case shortly after.
Rahman and Schaefer first sought a $62 million default judgment against Black in November 2023, but the court denied the request due to insufficient evidence of damages.
A revised claim for $10.6 million was also rejected last month after the judge said the plaintiffs had not provided adequate proof of their medical expenses.
The court has not yet ruled on the latest default request.