The father of Migos founding member Takeoff, Kenneth Ball, has joined the late rapper’s mother, Titania Davenport, in a $1 million wrongful death lawsuit against 810 Billiards & Bowling in Houston, the same venue where a shooting following a 2022 Halloween party resulted in rapper’s untimely death.
The complaint specifically contends that the venue’s negligence is evident in nearly 20 instances.
The civil lawsuit was initially filed on June 5, in a Harris County, Texas, district court against the property owners and assorted LLCs associated with Houston’s 810 Billiards & Bowling. Ball has become an “intervenor” in the claim, a term denoting a third party who aligns themselves with an ongoing legal case, asserting a vested interest in its outcome.
It alleges that the family of Rap-A-Lot CEO J. Prince “rented” the venue and that the facility knew that the party would last “‘after hours’ and with potentially many artists, popular athletes, and public figures,” according to Rolling Stone magazine. Takeoff and his uncle Quavo were outside of the venue when an argument over a dice game devolved into the gunplay that took the Migos member’s life.
“Despite these facts, Defendants provided no screening mechanisms, no after-hour controls or security measures, and no enforcement of rules or industry standards to deter crime against their invitees, to include [Takeoff],” the complaint says. “In fact, social media posting in advance of the party made it clear that not only basic security measures needed to be followed, but advance planning and consideration should have been taken into account, which Defendants were negligent in failing to do.”
According to the lawsuit, the owners of the venue “knew or should have known” that the venue and the area around the venue had previously had a lot of violent crime but failed to protect the party revelers from these risks.
The lawsuit details at least 18 instances where 810 Billiards and Bowling failed to protect its patrons.
Ball contends he joined the lawsuit because of the personal impact the premature death of his son has had on his life.
“[Kenneth Ball], the natural parent of [Takeoff], has suffered substantial pecuniary loss both in the past and in the future. Indeed, [Ball] has suffered past and future pecuniary loss, including funeral and burial expenses, psychological and psychiatric expenses, loss of advice, loss of counsel, loss of services, loss of care, loss of maintenance and loss of support,” Ball’s Houston-based lawyer Brant J. Stogner explained to AllHipHop.com, who broke the story on Christmas Day.
Lawyers for the venue say that owners are absolved from any liability for the chart-topper’s death and have shifted the blame to the two men implicated in the murder, Patrick Xavier Clark and Cameron Joshua. They argue that the men acted independently from the venue and so they are not responsible.
The recording artist, responsible for hit songs like “Bad and Boujee,” “MotorSport,” and “Stir Fry,” was shot at a party at 810 Billiards & Bowling in the early morning of Nov. 1, 2022.
The unfortunate incident unfolded following an argument, and he, regrettably, became a casualty of the crossfire, despite not being directly involved in the altercation. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Takeoff, whose real name was Kirsnick Ball, died at the age of 28.
