The sisters of a man who survived two overdoses from drugs allegedly supplied by Ed Buck, but who died of a drug overdose before his case against the former Democratic donor could get to trial, replaced him as plaintiffs Monday.
The 70-year-old Buck was convicted in 2021 of the overdose deaths of two other Black men in his West Hollywood apartment. Former plaintiff Dane Brown’s Los Angeles Superior Court complaint alleges sexual battery, assault, hate violence, negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress and human trafficking.
However, Brown, 43, was found dead on a South Los Angeles sidewalk on Nov. 6. On Monday, Judge Steven Ellis permitted Brown’s sisters, Gloria Honeycutt and Denise Brown, to step into the legal shoes of their late brother and assume the role of plaintiffs in his case. Their motion was unopposed by Buck’s attorney.
The sisters’ court papers state that Brown died of methamphetamine toxicity, that he had no spouse or children and that his parents are dead.
Brown and Buck met on the Adam4Adam website in June 2019 and for the next two months Buck often sent a ride-hailing vehicle to a hotel in Skid Row where the plaintiff then lived to bring him to Buck’s residence, the suit states.
After arriving at Buck’s apartment for the first visit, the two engaged in sex and Buck provided methamphetamine to Brown to smoke and to use intravenously, the suit states. Buck continued to provide the drug to Brown as he stayed in Buck’s apartment from July through September 2019, the suit states.
Buck, who allegedly sought out Brown because he is Black and gay, also forced him to watch pornography, according to the suit.
Buck intravenously injected methamphetamine into Brown on Sept. 4, 2019, and again a week later, causing Brown to overdose both times and have to be hospitalized on each occasion, the suit states.
During the second incident, Buck also gave Brown the “date rape” drug gamma hydroxybutyrate, also known as GHB, the suit alleges. Buck refused to call an ambulance, so Brown walked across the street to a service station, where an employee and a passerby called 911 on his behalf, according to the suit brought in September 2021.
Brown survived both overdoses and testified against Buck during a trial in U.S. District Court, where in July 2021 a jury found Buck guilty of committing all nine crimes for which he was charged, including two counts of distribution of methamphetamine resulting in death. Buck was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison in April 2022.
Buck once was a candidate for a seat on the West Hollywood City Council. He donated more than $500,000 to political candidates and causes, most of them associated with the Democratic Party.