Many new organizations have been talking about the twentieth anniversary of Nirvana’s “Nevermind,” which occurred last weekend. Meanwhile, a defamation lawsuit against the late Kurt Cobain’s wife, Courtney Love, is on its way to trial.
The case involves allegedly defamatory tweets that Love posted on Twitter about a former San Diego attorney who had been representing her in a fraud case involving Cobain’s money.
A California judge has set limits on the defamation lawsuit brought against Love by the former attorney, but also cleared the way for it to head to a jury trial. In the Twitter message, Love alleged that the lawyer accepted bribes in a case that involved money stolen from the estate of Cobain.
The lawyer mentioned in the alleged tweets represented Love in the fraud lawsuit from December of 2008 to May of 2009. Love switched legal counsel when another attorney caused her to question the legal strategy that her former law firm was following. She attempted to return to the former law firm at a later time but was turned away because of an alleged substance abuse issue. This may have caused Love to turn to Twitter in anger.
Love’s attorneys tried to have the lawsuit dismissed, but the motion was rejected by the judge. The judge did toss out a number of the claims made in the lawsuit. The judge gave the law firm that filed the suit 10 days to amend the complaint.
The current case is not the first time that Love has used Twitter to create inflammatory messages. Earlier this year, she paid $430,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by a clothing designer who Love was alleged to have defamed through Twitter posts.
At this time, Courtney Love’s Twitter account has been disabled.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter, Esq., “Courtney Love Twitter Defamation Case Moves Forward,” Eriq Gardner, Sept. 23, 2011