Ex-Nirvana Members Wants Courtney Love To See Shrink
(4/19/02, 3 p.m. ET) — Former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl and bassist Krist Novoselic have asked Courtney Love to submit to a psychiatric exam in the latest go-around over the rights to Nirvana’s music. Lawyers for both sides argued in King County Superior Court in Washington on Friday (April 19) about Kurt Cobain’s widow taking the test.
On Friday (April 19), Love’s lawyer O. Yale Lewis objected to the request; filing an action for declaratory judgment, breach of fiduciary duty, breach of the duty of good faith and fair dealing, breach of contract, and relief from oppression of a minority shareholder.
Lewis wrote in the document that Grohl and Novoselic’s original counterclaim “doesn’t allege that Ms. Love was mentally incapacitated when she signed the L.L.C. agreement in 1997.” In the newly filed document he also called the request action “meritless and a further indication the L.L.C. should be terminated.”
At press time there was no decision by presiding Judge Robert H. Alsdorf as to whether or not he would allow the defendants to subject Love to a psychiatric test. Grohl and Novoselic’s lawyer Kelly Corr filed a motion that they arrange for a “psychiatric examination at a mutually convenient date and time in Seattle prior to June 1, 2002.”
Love filed suit against Novoselic and Grohl September 28, 2001 to appropriate the rights to Nirvana, the storied group fronted by her late husband. The suit was to dissolve the ownership relationship, Nirvana L.L.C., with Novoselic and Grohl as well as the band’s contract with UMG, the parent company of Nirvana’s label, Geffen Records. It also claims that Love was coerced into signing and agreeing to the terms of the L.L.C.
Grohl and Novoselic filed a countersuit against Love on December 12, 2001 over the rights to the L.L.C. The pair claims that Love is not trying to protect the legacy of her late husband, but rather the motive for her legal action is designed to further her own sagging career. Love is also in a legal battle with the Universal Music Group over the contractual obligations of her own group, Hole.
— Darren Davis, New York – Launch