LOS ANGELES (AFP) – In 2021, the person who as a child was photographed bare for the duvet of Nirvana’s Nevermind album sued the band for sexual exploitation – and now a California choose has dismissed the case on procedural grounds.
The federal choose dismissed the case on Monday as Spencer Elden’s authorized group had missed a deadline to file an opposition to Nirvana attorneys’ December movement to drop the case.
Elden’s group has till Jan 13 to refile.
In a press release to AFP on Tuesday (Jan 4), his lawyer Robert Lewis stated they’d achieve this “very quickly.”
“We’re assured that Spencer might be allowed to maneuver ahead along with his case,” Lewis stated.
In 1991, when he was 4 months previous, Elden was photographed bare in a swimming pool reaching for a greenback invoice on a fish hook, a picture that change into probably the most iconic album covers of all time.
The album went on to promote 30 million copies, with songs equivalent to Smells Like Teen Spirit turning into American pop cultural touchstones.
However neither Elden nor his authorized guardians “ever signed a launch authorising using any photographs of Spencer or of his likeness, and positively not of business baby pornography depicting him,” the unique lawsuit stated.
In accordance with court docket paperwork, Elden had by no means acquired any compensation for the picture, and requested for US$150,000 (S$200,000) in damages from every of the 15 defendants – together with the surviving former members of the band, Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic, in addition to the property of the late lead singer Kurt Cobain, and the photographer, Kirk Weddle.
The lawsuit stated Elden had suffered “excessive and everlasting emotional misery,” in addition to “lifelong lack of earnings incomes capability.”