A U.S. District Judge has reinstated a wrongful-death lawsuit brought by the family of slain rapper, The Notorious B.I.G., reversing an earlier decision to throw the case out.

According to the Associated Press, U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper dismissed the lawsuit on March 21 after discovering Biggie's (born Christopher Wallace) family missed a state deadline for bringing a claim against the city of Los Angeles and two former LAPD police officers. According to court documents, the Wallace family appealed the ruling and Cooper reversed her decision after finding federal claims in the case can proceed.

The two wrongful death lawsuits were filed against the city on behalf of Biggie's widow, Faith Evans, mother, Voletta Wallace, and his two children. Cooper gave the Wallace family 20 days to file a new lawsuit and drop the state claims.

As SOHH previously reported, after a series of legal blows dealt to the Brooklyn rapper's family, on Dec. 17, 2007, Cooper ruled against the secondary wrongful death lawsuit. The lawsuit was originally filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, but was then moved to federal court.

The first lawsuit, filed in 2002, by Evans and Mrs. Wallace alleges wrongful death, civil rights violations and accused convicted corrupt cops Rafael Perez and David Mack and Death Row Records CEO Marion "Suge" Knight of conspiring to kill Biggie. The case ended in a mistrial in 2005. However it remains active, with newly discovered evidence surfacing, the judge has allowed the Wallace family to revise the lawsuit.

Notorious B.I.G. was gunned down March 9, 1997, while leaving a party at a Los Angeles Museum. His murder still remains unsolved.

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