Band seeks to dismiss suit for second time
Nirvana is blasting the lawsuit over its Nevermind artwork after Spencer Elden’s second amended complaint was filed last month. According to Rolling Stone, the band’s lawyers say Elden’s failed to sue the band in a reasonable amount of time.
“The time has run,” the band’s latest filing claims. “Elden’s decision to not sue these defendants for the past 30 years, despite his decades-long knowledge of their same and unvaried conduct, is dispositive of his claim. It is as simple as that.”
The band says Elden’s latest filing, which was recorded on January 12th, has failed to “identify any new victimization” that Elden “reasonably discovered for the first time after August 2011.”
A California judge dismissed the suit “with leave to amend” on January 3rd after Elden’s team failed to respond by the court-mandated December 30th deadline.
Elden’s revised suit drops a sex trafficking allegation, and once again names photographer Kirk Weddle, Courtney Love, Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic, Universal Music Group, the David Geffen Co., Warner Music Group, and others responsible for the estate of the late Kurt Cobain, as defendants.
In his original suit, Elden says 40 to 50 different sexually graphic images of Elder were produced with a “goal of enhancing and increasing the commercial success of Nirvana, L.L.C.’s Nevermind album.” The suit accuses frontman Kurt Cobain of being “instrumental in selecting Spencer’s image for the album cover” and “chose the image depicting Spencer — like a sex worker— grabbing for a dollar bill that is positioned dangling from a fishhook in front of his nude body with his penis explicitly displayed.”
Cobain agreed to place a sticker strategically over his genitals after receiving pushback from others. The sticker read, “If you’re offended by this, you must be a closet pedophile.” However, the sticker was never incorporated into the album cover and left Elden fully exposed.
Elden is asking for $150k from each defendant.
