Nirvana has won a lawsuit over the cover art for 1991 album Nevermind for the “final” time.
In August 2021, Spencer Elden filed a lawsuit in which he accused the band of violating federal pornography laws and exploiting him due to an image of him swimming naked as an infant being featured in the cover artwork.
Though the lawsuit was dismissed in January, Elden refiled later that month, amending the original complaint by removing charges of child sex trafficking but still arguing the photograph was child pornography.
Yet, on Friday, Judge Fernando Olguin sided with Nirvana, noting that Elden had waited too long to allege he had been exploited.
“In sum, plaintiff fails to allege that he knew of a violation that occurred while he was a minor or an injury that forms the basis of the claim within 10 years of filing this action,” the judge declared, according to Reuters.
The dismissal prevents Elden from filing a further lawsuit on the subject.
His lawyers have not yet commented.
However, a representative for the defendants welcomed Olguin’s decision.
“We are pleased that this meritless case has been brought to a speedy final conclusion,” said lawyer Bert Deixler in a statement.
The band’s estate represents surviving members Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic, as well as Courtney Love, the widow of late frontman Kurt Cobain.
Kirk Weddle, the photographer of the cover art, was also named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
In previous complaints, Elden alleged the cover artwork was a child sexual abuse image that had caused him “extreme and permanent emotional distress with physical manifestations”. He also claimed he had suffered loss of education, wages, and “enjoyment of life”.
Meanwhile, representatives for Nirvana in an application for dismissal, stated the complainant had, “spent three decades profiting from his celebrity as the self-anointed Nirvana Baby”, citing Elden’s recreation of the image on the album’s 15th and 20th anniversaries.
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