| PAST CASE UPDATES |
| UPDATE 4/25/2002 NO TEST FOR COURTNEY FULL STORY: Courtney Love Thwarts Evaluation Courtney Love will not be required by law to undergo a mental examination to prove her sanity. Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic requested the examination siting a law pertaining to the joint ownership of their company Nirvana LLC in which Courtney is a major shareholder. They claimed she had "an identifiable mental problem" prohibiting her from logic in their business arrangement. Under LLC law, any partner can request a psychiatric examination if they feel the other party decision making process is obscured. King County Superior Court Judge Robert Alsdorf not so. Based on the judges decision Courtney's lawyer said "It's not appropriate to use something as invasive as a mental examination to gain leverage in a business dispute." Love is suing Grohl and Novoselic to dissolve the business and take control of the Nirvana legacy. The case goes before the court in September. |
| UPDATE 5/2/2002 KURT'S JOURNAL'S MORE THAN LIKELY COURTNEY FAKES With everyone tuned in to see what happens with September's court date for the control of Nirvana's music, we're forgetting that not long ago, Courtney has already sold what is believed to be the "Kurt Journals"....In "Heavier than Heaven", book by Charles Cross, where he refers to this so-called journal, in which he is given pages and permission from Courtney herself to release some excerpts, we have to wonder if there is any validity of the content. From an emailed interview on buddyhead.com with Courtney she tells about why she sold the 'journals'. In the last sentence Courtney types out before signing her name - "let him speak for himself -Courtney Love" Ok Courtney-- Kurt is going to be speaking for himself here in this article: Just today, it was brought to my attention with someone pointing out an interview with Kurt in July, 1993 -- From Guitar World : Kurt Cobain The Lost Interview Part Two, in which he says he keeps no personal diary or journal... GW: When did you start to write? COBAIN: I was probably about 14. Junior high. I never took it very seriously. I've never kept personal journals, either. I've never kept a diary, and I've never tried to write stories in the poetry; it's always been abstract. The plan for my life, ever since I can remember, was to be a commercial artist. My mother gave me a lot of support in being artistic-she really complimented my drawings and paintings. So I was always building up to that. By the time I was in ninth grade I was taking three commercial art classes and planning to go to art school. My art teacher would enter my paintings and stuff in contests. But ultimately, I wasn't interested in that at all, really; it wasn't what I wanted to do. I knew my limitations. However, I really enjoy art and still like to paint." So, my question, many of you thinking the same thing at this moment- WHO'S WRITINGS DID SHE SELL OFF? Was it her own work? In the Broomfield movie "Kurt and Courtney", her old boyfriend, Rozz Rezebeck shows a suitcase full of Courtney's writings... Could she be using those from her own hand? With what she's pulling lately, I wouldn't put it past her! Let me know your thoughts-- FEEDBACK |
| UPDATE 6/5/2002 Courtney Love- Hole disbanded, court and portions of Universal Lawsuit thrown out Back in February 2001, Courtney Love has filed a cross-complaint against Universal Music Group, seeking to break her contract with the mega label and expose what she claims is a 'corrupt system that enslaves artists and cheats them out of royalties.' Her complaint contends Universal Music Group hid profits, defrauded the band out of royalties and held the band to an unrealistic contract that would require seven albums over seven years. Vivendi Universal executives are not commenting on Love's suit. But in court papers, the company described the complaint as a "meritless, inflammatory diatribe" designed to "attract media attention." And we all know how she loves attention! Right!!? She quotes: "I could end up being the music industry's worst nightmare: a smart gal with a fat bank account who is unafraid to go down in flames fighting for a principle..." Who's fat bank account? But on June 10th, at a meeting with a court-appointed mediator, Courtney Love's lawsuit against the Universal Music Group will go before a jury on June 11th, when a judge threw out a portion of her suit that challenged California labor law. Should the case go to trial, it will do so without Hole as a group. With the numerous lawsuits she is currently involved in she made the decision to end the band. Thank God. After eleven years, three albums ( two if you don't count "Live Through This"), Hole officially broke up on May 23rd. Courtney Love and guitarist Eric Erlandson announced the breakup in a statement. Unfortunately, she is currently working on a solo album with Patti Schemel and former 4 Non Blondes singer Linda Perry, who has worked with Pink and Christina Aguilera. It is due for release early next year. Dear God, help us. For the whole story: Love's Suit Weakened Courtney Love Takes on Universal Hole Call It Quits Love announces band's official breakup |
| Update 6/28/2002 Dear old Courtney- Three times a charm... 1-Our gal is embroiled in a nasty Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit with the owners of a Beverly Hills mansion Love briefly rented last year for $25,000 a month. Courtney claims she vacated the home in mid-December because her landlord "continually 'snooped' around," entered the house without her consent, and failed to fix "substantial leaks." The owners, of course, see things a bit differently, as detailed in the below excerpt from their cross-complaint. They charge that Love "left behind a trail of damage and missing items," including water damage caused when "Love stuffed feminine hygiene or other products into a toilet, thereby creating a stoppage which created a flood." The two sides are each seeking damages and want to be awarded the $50,000 security deposit. For more information: The Smoking Gun (5 pages) 2-A Hawaiian spa is suing Love for nonpayment of a hefty bill. According to this Circuit Court complaint - filed by the Malama Salon & Spa, Love owes them $15,028.35 for a variety of services provided last year. Seems that before she attended the May 21 "Pearl Harbor" premiere, Courtney got the full spa treatment from a dozen Malama employees, who were dispatched to Love's rented Oahu mansion on a Sunday evening. There they pampered the musician (hair, nails, skin treatment, etc.) into the wee hours of the following morning, according to a spa representative. The bill became particularly large because Love was charged premiums for off-site and weekend services. She has yet to formally respond to the Hawaii lawsuit. For more information: The Smoking Gun (4 pages) 3- Finally, regarding Love's Seattle lawsuit - against the two surviving members of Nirvana (Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic), Courtney has just filed this star-studded list of her potential witnesses for the trial slated for September. Along with various record company executives and music journalists, Love may call Bono, Michael Stipe, Drew Barrymore, and directors Cameron Crowe and Milos Forman. In addition to the lawsuit parties, the alt-rock world may also be represented by Pat Smear, Melissa Auf Der Maur, Patty Schemel, and Eric Erlandson. For more information: The Smoking Gun (2 pages) |
| Update 7/18/02 More court for Courtney! Ex-employees to collect a final paycheck from Courtney Love. Three former household workers- a nanny, Maia Tarin gets her two-grand, the butler, Roberto Rojas gets the "runaround" and estate manager, Pepe Harrington on Courtney's chaos--recently filed complaints with the California Labor Commissioner's Division of Labor Standards Enforcement claiming Courtney Love stiffed them on salary, overtime, or severance pay. For the whole story: The Smoking Gun |
| Update 7/23/02 FOO FIGHTING BACK! DAVE GROHL kicked life back into his feud with COURTNEY LOVE from the stage at T IN THE PARK yesterday (July 15) saying he was "really pissed off" by the ongoing legal disputes over the NIRVANA legacy. Towards the end of the Foo Fighters Main Stage set, Grohl chose the Courtney-baiting 'Stacked Actress' to launch into his diatribe. "Now I've been pretty nice about this Courtney Love stuff for a while - but now that sh** is REALLY PISSING ME OFF," he said. "I gotta do a f****** deposition with my lawyer - F******* SH**." |
| UPDATE 4/19/2002 Courtney Love is asked to obtain a psychiatric exam and evaluation Originally from Yahoo! News COURTNEY LOVE: CRAZY OR NOT? Fri Apr 19, 1:47 PM ET Fans and critics alike have long joked about it, but now her late husband's bandmates want the question answered once and for all: Is Courtney Love crazy? In court papers filed last week in Seattle, surviving Nirvana rockers Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic have asked a judge to order the former Mrs. Kurt Cobain to undergo a psychiatric exam. And do it before June 1, no less. Grohl and Novoselic aren't just being curious (Is she or isn't she...?). They're just getting down and dirty in the ongoing battle over control of the Nirvana legacy. At issue is whether Love, 37, can break a business partnership she formed with the Nirvana guys in 1997. She sued to dissolve Nirvana L.L.C. last June. The two sides have been warring in court ever since. "There is clearly an objective basis for believing that Ms. Love is not competent," the new petition filed by Grohl and Novoselic says. The latest documents are available online at TheSmokingGun.com. To make their case, the Nirvana alums' court document highlights the, um, outspoken Love's colorful past: her hiring and firing of "countless managers, attorneys and band mates"; her drug use (as "openly" acknowledged by Love herself); and an almost-fistfight last month with "young recording artist" Christina Aguilera (as "openly" claimed by Love herself, natch). The petition relies a lot on Love's own words. (That's what you get for being outspoken, we guess.) A couple of key quotes (from an Internet posting and an interview with MTV) have Love saying she was "stoned" when she agreed to establish Nirvana L.L.C. Indeed, Love's side has argued in court that she shouldn't be held accountable for agreeing to go into business with Grohl and Novoselic because she was "significantly impaired" when she signed the paperwork. Still, Miss Love ain't jumping at the chance to undergo a psych exam, as requested. "Presumably, [Grohl and Novoselic] would select the psychiatrist and specify the scope of the examination," Love's attorneys said in a document filed with the court Wednesday. "Shades of Frances Farmer." Frances Farmer was an outspoken 1930s-era leading lady (immortalized in the Jessica Lange starrer Frances) whose one drunken-driving arrest turned into an 11-year-stay in mental hospitals. She is the namesake of Love's daughter with Cobain, Frances Bean. While Nirvana fans know that Love was regarded as the Yoko Ono of the grunge world well before Cobain's death, her relationship with Grohl and Novoselic turned especially nasty last year during a dispute over whether an unreleased Cobain track, "You've Got No Right," could appear on a forthcoming Nirvana box set. Grohl and Novoselic wanted the song included; Love didn't. Love got her way on that count--"You've Got No Right" will be MIA when Heart-Shaped Box comes out in December. A hearing on whether Love will be forced to undergo the psych exam will be held Friday in Seattle. In case you're keeping score at home, Love versus the Nirvana guys is only one of the court cases that's keeping the stripper turned rocker turned actress turned tabloid regular busy these days. She is being sued by Universal Music Group for delivering only two of seven promised Hole albums. And she, in turn, is suing Universal, accusing it of "unconscionable and unlawful" business tactics and challenging the standard artist contract. |
| Update 3/2002 Nirvana Lawsuit E! Online News Celebrity Courthouse March 3, 2002 Courtney Love v. Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic, Universal Music Group Filed: September 28, 2001, countersuit filed December 12, 2001 Los Angeles County Superior Court, Los Angeles Countersuit: King County Superior Court, Seattle The Case: For all the pain and suffering that clouded Kurt Cobain's stratospheric rise and calamitous fall, it only makes sense that Nirvana's afterlife has been equally messy. Still, no one expected territorial pissings like this. A bitter, trash-talking legal war has broken out between Nirvana's surviving members and Cobain's famous widow, Courtney Love, as both sides are pleading their case to fans and claiming they both know what's best for Nirvana's legacy. The latest salvo comes from former bassist Krist Novoselic and drummer turned Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl, who have filed a countersuit against Love, labeling the Hole singer a "greedy prima donna" with a "waning recording and acting career" and accusing her of using her late husband's music to "further her own career goals." The suit comes seven months after Love sued Novoselic, Grohl and Universal Music, in her own attempt to dissolve their three-way partnership and gain sole custody of the seminal grunge band's music. Love claimed she only agreed to form the partnership, known as Nirvana LLC, because she was stoned at the time. In June 2001, Love successfully blocked the pair from releasing the Nirvana rarity "You Know You're Right," which they had recorded with Cobain just before his 1994 suicide. The move chapped Novoselic and Grohl, who planned to release the track as part of a 10th anniversary Nirvana box set, which Love had sought to stop because she was reportedly unhappy with the packaging. Frustrated, the surviving Nirvana mates wrote an open letter to fans, condemning Love's tactics. "Love now claims she wants to protect the legacy of Cobain and Nirvana by withholding approval of the public release of Nirvana sound recordings," their statement reads. "Yet, Love felt no such protectiveness when it came to her own career, exploiting the cachet surrounding Cobain's death for her own benefit by performing ['You Know You're Right'] on MTV after introducing it as Cobain's last song." Naturally, Love responded to Grohl and Novoselic's lawsuit with her own open letter to fans, signed by "The Family of Kurt Cobain." "Kurt Cobain was Nirvana," Love replied. "He named the band, hired its members, played guitar, wrote the songs, fronted the band onstage and in interviews and took responsibility for the band's business decisions." Of course, underneath all this public sniping lies money. Lots of it. Nirvana's albums have generated some $500 million in sales worldwide, and the unreleased song and box set were expected to reap millions more for whomever controls the recordings. Sidebar: Immediately following Novoselic and Grohl's statement, Cobain's own mother jumped into the fray, releasing a statement siding with Love and declaring that "my son despised his bandmates." In a statement, mother Wendy Frandenburg Cobain O'Connor said, "I am shocked and disgusted at the behavior of Krist Novoselic, David Grohl and their 'managers' and lawyers. "I know that Nirvana was never a partnership of any sort," she continued. "I know that in the last year of his life, my son despised his bandmates and told me many times he no longer wanted to play with them or have anything to do with them...Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl never wrote a Nirvana song in their lives. For them to have formed an equal partnership is ridiculous beyond comprehension." The lawsuit is just one of many legal quarrels Love has faced over the past several years. In February 2001, she sued Universal to break Hole's contract with the label, which she claimed was overly restrictive because it forces artists to churn out an unreasonable number of albums over a short period of time. Love is using the lawsuit to challenge the way the music industry signs artists and to help give performers more rights. Universal, meanwhile, claimed her lawsuit was just a "meritless, inflammatory diatribe" designed to "attract media attention." Status: Pending |
| Update 8/22/02 Nickolas Hartshorne dies at 39 |
| It has come to my attention just recently that the coroner who was involved with Kurt's autopsy has died British Man dies in Switzerland base jumping from the "Nose" By Mick Knutson Aug 6, 2002, 9:00am Switzerland: A British man(39) died today around 9am Switzerland time jumping from the "Nose". The man died from injuries sustained from several cliff strikes from 180 off-heading opening. The jumper has been identified as Nik Hartshorn who is residing in Portland Oregon (USA). The family has been notified and has given authorization to release his name. Eight jumpers went to Murren to jump on Tuesday morning. Robert Petnik of Bird-Man had jumped prior to Nik jumping and was on the ground. Dwain Weston stated that it had been raining earlier that day, but stopped. Then as the group was ready to exit, a very light drizzle began. This was not a concern to any of the jumpers, and Dwain was even wearing a hemlet camera for his wingsuit flight after Nik jumped. Dwain has approximately 1-2 seconds of exit footage of Nik's exit, and it appears he exited strong/forceful, flat boxman exit, and started to push him a bit head down. Nothing that Dwain had ever considered would have been a problem, given Nik's abilities (hundreds of BASE-jumps). Nik took approximately a 5-6 second delay then deployed. Robert witnessed just the opening Nik had and was a solid 180 off-heading. Nik was reacting very quickly to the issue by using his rear risers to turn the canopy around. Dwain stated that Nik, as he turned around from the 180, essentially landed on a ledge due to the loss of altitude on the rear riser turn and subsequent downward canopy sink. He then jumped off the ledge into freefall and the canopy appeared to slightly collapse, then re-inflate into a spiral. Nik then impacted a second ledge with his body. He continued in a hard spiral where he impacted a 3rd ledge. After impacting the 3rd ledge, his canopy continued in a hard spiral and was rotated above the canopy. At this time he fell into his canopy, and was wrapped in his canopy. At this altitude, he was at a point on the cliff where there is a steep sloping talus. Nik then slid down the rest of the talus wrapped in his canopy and there was nothing to slow his descent. Fellow jumpers then immediately came to his aid and started administering CPR. When Swiss paramedics arrived, the continued administering CPR, but efforts did not help to revive his pulse. Nik was jumping a BlackJack 261 with ZP top deflector. The toggles where stowed when they got to him. Nik was jumping this canopy mesh slider up in the States, and had experience very hard openings on several 5 second delay jumps. He then began, what Dwain considered extensive, research on a solution. He had made the decision to use this sail slider from his research. The "Nose" or "Murren", is approximately 1,300' high, fairly overhung at the top, but has a large talus. |