LOS ANGELES (AP) -
Courtney Love has added yet another lawsuit to her bevy of legal actions currently keeping her legal team busy.
The latest suit, filed on Friday (Sept. 28) in Los Angeles Superior Court, is against former Nirvana members Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic, Nirvana L.L.C. (a limited liability company made up of Love, Grohl, and Novoselic), and Geffen Records for breach of contract, declaratory relief regarding rescission, and declaratory relief regarding assignment.
The suit was filed on behalf of the estate of Love's former husband, the late Kurt Cobain, and on behalf of their only child, Frances Bean Cobain, now 9. Love and her daughter are the principal beneficiaries of Cobain.
Love claims that Nirvana's contract with Geffen, now part of Universal Music Group (UMG), was "terminated and all rights granted to Geffen under the agreement were rescinded." However, Love claims that, "Since the rescission, Grohl and Novoselic have committed breaches of their fiduciary duties owed to Love, including, but not limited to, threatening to destroy existing Nirvana studio recordings, and threatening to authorize the release to UMG, without Love's consent, of a boxed set of songs written by Kurt Cobain and recorded by Cobain, Novoselic, and Grohl."
Love recently told L.A. alternative station KROQ that it's not that she does not want the Nirvana box set to be released, she just doesn't want Interscope and the band's former "evil managers" to make money from the release. The label was hoping to put out the box set in time for the 10-year anniversary of the release of Nirvana's 1991 masterpiece, Nevermind, on Sept. 11.
The suit goes on to say that UMG/Interscope "gave notice that Nirvana was in breach of contract for failing to deliver the boxed set by June 30, 2001."
Among the ways Geffen allegedly breached the contract, according to the suit, are by improperly assigning the recording company's obligations to Interscope, without plaintiff's consent, knowing that Interscope did not have the same commitment to rock and specific expertise which Geffen had originally promised (in the original 1991 recording contract); improper requiring of a joint recording; improper coupling of a master; improper use of a master for promotional purposes; improper editing and remixing of a master; distributing an unauthorized derivative work that distorted and devalued the master; and failing to properly account for and pay royalties in excess of $3.1 million, as set forth in the audit report.
The "derivative work" the suit is referring to is a song titled "Monstersound" by German dance act Balloon, which Love claims features a sample of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" that was "completely unauthorized." The single has since been recalled, and according the suit, Geffen's defense was that the riff used was "replay," not a sample.
Love is looking for an order declaring the agreement has indeed been rescinded, restitution in an amount to be determined at trial, and for all of the rights to Nirvana's master recordings, master videos, and other materials. She is also seeking to restrain Grohl, Novoselic, and Geffen from releasing and/or distributing Nirvana's music.
